Sites will likely see more customized interactive response technology (IRT) systems put in place, according to a survey of sponsors that found more than 80 percent prefer systems tailored to their specific needs.

The Almac Group, a contract development and management organization, surveyed sponsors about their need and preferences for IRT systems, finding that 53 percent said their current clinical trial portfolio warranted use of an IRT system that was fully customizable, despite the added expense of development and implementation. Another 30 percent of sponsors were interested in limited customizations.

The survey also found that 62 percent of emerging sponsor companies expect their IRT systems to take four weeks or less to set up, compared to 58 percent of small/mid-size companies and 51 percent of large companies. The industry standard timeline is eight to 12 weeks.

Sponsors have differing opinions on the compelling features of an IRT system based on how many drugs or therapies they have in development, the survey found. Flexibility was a bigger issue for small and mid-size companies (79 percent) than for large (64 percent) and emerging (54 percent) ones. Small/mid-size companies were also more focused on price (74 percent) compared to emerging (70 percent) and large (53 percent) companies.

The survey considered companies with up to five assets in clinical or preclinical development to be emerging companies, while those with six to 10 assets were labeled small/mid-size and those with more than 10 assets were considered large.

Read the survey here: https://bit.ly/3sBlhCm.