Patient-centric Clinical Trials: A New Paradigm for Drug Development

With the acceleration of innovative drugs launched in the market, clinical trials have become increasingly complex and costly. Integration of patients' perspective and engagement into the clinical research process is essential to the success of the trials, which leads to the emergence of the concept of patient-centric clinical trials. Compared to the conventional paradigm of clinical trials, patient-centric clinical trials have the potential to increase the feasibility of study protocol, to speed recruitment and execution, and to promote the success of trials. It calls for the institutions and investigators of clinical trials to be aware of and adapt to patient-centric initiatives. In this article, we highlight technologies and actions that can be used to enhance patients' engagement in the entire process of drug development, covering protocol development, trial conduction, and result publication.