Revolutionizing clinical trials: The role of cloud-native data fabrics in decentralized research

By Vipin Nair, SVP, Cybersecurity, CitiusTech and Amresh Biswas, AVP, Cybersecurity, CitiusTech

The widespread adoption of wearable devices, combined with improved network connectivity and data analytics, is fundamentally transforming the clinical trial landscape. The industry is moving towards decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) where patients participate remotely using wearables, unlike the traditional model where they needed to be physically present at a lab or healthcare facility. While this helps tackle the issue of limited patient diversity and patient dropouts, enterprises now need to contend with a new set of challenges. The biggest among these is ensuring data security and identity management, with patient safety being at the heart of it. 

Decentralized clinical trials work on a complex web of interconnected devices and applications spread across several different locations. This includes the wearable devices and mobile apps used by the patients, telehealth tools, apps for the clinicians and analysts and the servers ...