Erez Raphael | Med Gadget | 6 August 2014
When it comes to bringing better drugs to market, clinical research is a critical step. Enormous time is spent proving that a product is safe and effective. Yet several common inefficiencies tend to slow down the process often preventing these drugs and devices from helping those who could benefit from them most.
Smartphones offer us incredible new opportunities for implementing efficient clinical research trials. They allow researchers to simplify complexities that have traditionally surrounded clinical research with tools that are now easily accessible to both practitioners and patients. Smartphones can be used to gather critical information from an enrolled patient including factors such as weight, blood pressure, glucose levels, and more. Not only can smartphones be used to automate and speed up information entry, they offer ways to improve the methodology and accuracy of research.