ERT has announced the availability of a new report, conducted by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, mapping the growing adoption of centralised ECG (electrocardiogram) services.
The industry-wide report measures the current and anticipated adoption levels of centralised ECGs in clinical trials.
The document, entitled 'Mapping Adoption of Centralised Cardiac Safety' is available to download from a dedicated microsite.
The study, supported by an unrestricted grant from ERT, focuses on the use and adoption of digital and electronic ECGs and reports industry perceptions regarding the use of a centralised cardiac safety assessment provider in support of clinical studies.
While the study reported only 33 per cent of respondents currently use a centralised ECG approach, 89 per cent of respondents expect the use of centralised ECGs to increase in five years.
The significant increase in centralisation is anticipated due to regulatory pressures and sponsors' needs to provide high-quality data being highlighted as the key factors to drive adoption.
The results confirm that respondents feel that centralised core labs are a valuable way of conducting cardiac safety assessments and most executives that were interviewed believe that 100 per cent of all cardiac safety studies will eventually be handled by centralised providers.
Ninety-seven per cent of respondents rated central labs as being more accurate, and 90 per cent rated them as being more efficient than a decentralised approach.
Despite the reluctance to deviate from using a decentralised approach due to financial concerns, the Tufts report demonstrates that perceptions are changing, with 70 per cent of respondents rating the costs of using an ECG core lab to be less than, or equal to the cost of using paper.
The study further highlights integrating data and workflows into a core lab can result in improved patient safety, increased productivity, allow faster database locks, enhanced service, greater satisfaction and potential cost savings, all of which are offered by a centralised approach.
The study also examines the challenges of traditional decentralisation methods.
