Integrating novel digital health technologies into clinical trials

Interviewer: In recent years, we have seen an increasing number of digital health technologies being integrated into clinical trials. These technologies aim to improve data collection as well as patient engagement. We're joined today by Rinol Alaj, head of digital health technologies at Regeneron to discuss these developments. Rinol, thank you very much for joining us today. Mr. Alaj: Thank you for inviting me. Interviewer: What are some of the current challenges with clinical trials that these technologies are trying to address? Mr. Alaj: Historically, clinical trials are complex so over the past decade, drug developers have recognized the need to adopt and progress the design and execution of the clinical trials in order to increase the speed of the drug discovery. Specifically, one critical challenge with clinical trials is how we're collecting the data. During the clinical trial, researchers collect data in many different ways. Examples, if you look at the clinical data, such as vitals, imaging, and laboratory tests. These are collected at doctor's office or laboratory, which basically limits our ability to collect continuous real-time data. On the other hand, if we look at the quality of life measurements or patient-reported outcomes, which are subjective measures where patients basically report how they function and feel. These measures can introduce variability bias because they are often done at a specific point in time and also requires patients to recall how they feel. This is specifically an area of focus throughout my career, specifically at my previous company