Europe – Facilitating Decentralised Clinical Trials in the EU

The European Commission (EC), the Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have published recommendations that aim to facilitate the conduct of decentralised clinical trials (DCTs) while safeguarding the rights and well-being of participants as well as the robustness and reliability of the data collected. This is an outcome of their joint initiative to Accelerate Clinical Trials in the European Union (ACT EU).

Traditionally, clinical trials have been conducted at specific clinical trial sites, to which patients had to travel to. The aim of DCTs is to make it easier for patients to participate in clinical trials by reducing the need to travel to central trial sites. This approach has the potential to make clinical trials available to a wider demographic of participants and reduce drop-out rates…