The cost of clinical trials is rising, leaving research teams with very limited budgets to spread across venues and site overheads, administrative staff salaries, recruitment, retention, data management and more. Funding challenges present one of the biggest drivers of trial delays, so finding ways to minimise costs is becoming essential.
Here are 3 ways that Virtual Clinical can not only help to reduce your trial costs and maximise budgets, but also facilitate more accurate forecasting across the project:
- Outsource Wisely
Outsourcing to clinical research organisations (CROs) is fast becoming the norm, bringing multiple benefits and support to trial teams. However, not all CROs are cost effective. In terms of maximising budgets, the ability of smaller CROs to scale up and down in response to individual team requirements makes them a preferable option, with larger organisations often limited in their ability to adapt by set processes and use of available, but not always the most suitable staff. Smaller CROs like Virtual Clinical are well equipped to deliver the right team, in the right place, while simultaneously providing an effective way for teams to lower their staff costs.
- Go Virtual
Site costs and site overheads make up some of the biggest drains on clinical trial budgets, which is why venues should be a primary consideration. But what if a venue wasn’t needed? In a bid to lower site costs and maximise available budgets, adoption of virtual clinical trials is growing. With trials managed from a central office, and global freelance staff undertaking necessary tasks remotely and monitoring participants using digital tracking and communication technologies, researchers are able to successfully eradicate one of the biggest budgetary sinks while still obtaining information needed.
- Utilise On-Demand Support
At Virtual Clinical, we’re proud to be one of the first CROs in the world to introduce a dedicated helpdesk service, offering on-demand remote support for investigational staff enquiries. This innovative solution allows for the cost effective extension of trial teams, taking the administrative pressure off key members. By freeing up valuable researchers for core clinical tasks, teams can take measures to reduce delays and ensure the continued smooth operation of processes and procedures; an essential aspect at a time when trials are becoming increasingly complicated, with greater vendor input.
A Shifting Landscape
As we learn more about drug development, clinical trials are becoming increasingly complex, and in many cases, increasingly complex means increasing costs. And while limited levels of funding mean we may not be able to generate larger budgets to accommodate this growing complexity, there are other ways to address the problem.
One of these ways is to derive more value from the funding we do have. And by working with a CRO like Virtual Clinical, clinical teams have a wide range of services they can utilise to help reduce costs and create more cost effective ways of working. Get in touch with us to find out more.
