Integrating clinical trial applications and processes is a top priority for CROs as they look to improve the speed and quality of clinical trials, says a new Veeva survey.

In 2020, the biggest challenges CROs identified were integrating multiple applications (70 percent), managing or reconciling trial information across applications (60 percent) and reporting across multiple applications (58 percent).

Ease of use (44 percent), collaboration with study partners (43 percent), governance and oversight (25 percent), and compliance with standards (14 percent) were also identified as key challenges.

Most (98 percent) of the CRO respondents also say they need to improve information-sharing among study partners. The top three reasons identified were to reduce manual processes (78 percent), speed study execution (61 percent) and improve collaboration (57 percent).

Similarly, most CROs say they need to improve the study start-up process, with faster study start-up times (73 percent), reducing manual processes (53 percent) and improved site feasibility or selections outcomes (50 percent) identified as the top three drivers.

In 2020, 93 percent of CROs were using an electronic data capture (EDC) system, up from 86 percent in 2017. Electronic trial master file (eTMF) solutions were used by 82 percent of CROs in 2020, up from 62 percent in 2017.

The use of clinical trial management (CTMS) and randomized trial supply manager (RTSM) systems also grew, to 73 percent and 67 percent in 2020, up from 58 percent and 52 percent in 2017, respectively.

Nearly all (99 percent) of the 124 CROs who responded to the survey said they need to integrate and streamline their systems and processes, and 90 percent said they have or will have plans to do so in the next 12 months. Meanwhile, 13 percent said they plan to begin integrating systems in more than 12 months, and 10 percent have no plans to do so.

Read the report here: http://bit.ly/3qc2V8U.