Looking back, thinking ahead: industry leaders talk trends

Experts from our industry share their thoughts on 2020 and what trends we may expect in 2021. IDDI’s Chief Commercial Officer, Serge Bodart, gives insight on vulnerabilities and development stemmed from the COVID pandemic:

Serge Bodart, chief commercial officer, IDDI​

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Randomized clinical trials (RTCs) remain the gold standard in assessing a drug’s benefit; however, the pandemic has highlighted certain vulnerabilities. Cost per participant can prohibit recruitment and limited specialized resources are needed for endpoints, affecting statistical power. In addition, clinical trials are not always reflective of clinical practice due to restrictive protocols and narrow selection criteria.

The global pandemic has revealed that the current way of conducting RCTs is inflexible and inefficient. However, the industry must move forward and continue to progress. This has been possible through a willingness to embrace new ways of designing, conducting, analyzing and reporting clinical trials.

This necessity to adapt under pressure and in a short timeframe will have a long-lasting effect on our industry. It is essential and advisable not to revert to our old ways of working.

The pandemic had led to unprecedented speed in methodological and clinical development, which has presented opportunities for national and international collaboration, and has simplified and sped up procedures. We can only hope this trend continues.

The pandemic has also placed biostatistics, epidemiology, virology, infectiology, vaccinology, and related fields in the spotlight in an unprecedented way, implying great opportunities, but also the need to communicate effectively, often amidst controversy.

Read the full article here and learn the experts’ perspective on the dynamic events of 2020 and their predictions on how the landscape might shift in the next 12 months.