More people will be allowed to take part in clinical trials from the comfort of their own homes, in an attempt to increase the diversity of participants.
Clinical trials are a crucial step in the development of new drugs, tests, devices and other interventions.
Drugs and medical equipment may be less effective in certain groups if there is a lack of diversity in clinical trials.
The health secretary, Sajid Javid, announced a review into why people of colour and women have worse health outcomes.
According to the chief digital health officer at the pharma company, only 3% to 5% of eligible patients choose to join a clinical trial.
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It is important that trial participants are diverse as genetic, social, and cultural factors can affect the way different groups respond to interventions.
The Covid vaccine trials were criticized for mostly involving white participants, despite the fact that the virus had a disproportionate effect on people of colour. Breastcancer.org says a lack of diversity in clinical trials may be one of the reasons black women in the US have worse breast cancer outcomes than other groups.
According to experts at the company, shifting data collection to the home may help break down barriers to participation in clinical trials.
Durn said that before the Pandemic the company carried out interviews with patients.
It was very burdensome for patients to participate, because it required them to travel to a hospital or site to wait and have the procedures done to collect the data, said Durn.
Durn said that the team found that participation could be made more accessible. 70% of the data could be collected at home after we reviewed close to 100 protocols.
It is possible to take blood samples and evaluate lung function at home, as well as monitor heart rate and activity.
Durn said it was possible to collect data at home before the Covid epidemic, but the crisis accelerated the approach.
She said that the change of behavior that has been seen through the Pandemic is due to the fact that all the technology was there.
She said that the company has been increasing the diversity of investigators on clinical trials to help build trust with local communities.
Stephen Evans, professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said that increasing diversity in trials is something that virtually every trialist wants to do.
Doing things from home could have drawbacks. He said that participants were unaware of the treatment they had been given, for example whether it was an active drug or a control. He said that the biases could become very substantial.
