Interactive voice response firm thinks clinical trials industry is not yet fully aware that interactive voice response is the most effective method of gathering patient diary information
New analysis being carried out in the clinical trials industry suggests that the use of modern technologies for patient diary applications will surge in growth over the next few years.
Trial sponsors, however, could be overlooking the most reliable and cost effective medium on the market for gathering patient diary information - interactive voice response (IVR) and its sister technology interactive web response (IWR).
Market analysts estimate that 25-30% of all current clinical trials currently use a paper-based diary system.
And they say that by 2007, around a quarter of these will be based on electronic technology.
Clinical technology organisation ClinPhone, however, believes the industry is not yet fully aware that interactive voice response is the most cost effective, universally available and proven method of gathering patient diary information.
"Due to its success in the area, IVR has become synonymous with randomisation and medication supply management, but it's interesting that many analysts and sponsors do not immediately associate electronic patient diaries with IVR technology.
Current thinking considers only PDA-type handheld devices, tablet PCs and desktop computers," commented ClinPhone director of marketing and business development, Patrick Hughes.
"In reality, the bare facts and statistics suggest IVR should be the mainstream method for this application.
At ClinPhone we specialise in IVR technology which has already been used to manage patient diaries in over 30 large multinational trials, with unrivalled success. We are not alone in having seen the benefits of IVR in this area. "We have already supported as many electronic diary studies as most of the service providers that focus solely on other technologies.
We believe it is very important that sponsors are aware of every alternative to paper-based diaries, especially those that have proven utility." ClinPhone's US director of strategic business development David Stein has a unique perspective on the issue.
A former owner of an eDiary vendor which developed both handheld and IVR diary systems, he is convinced the way forward is via IVR.
"Handheld diaries are great for studies requiring visual scales, but we were able to deploy IVR diaries more rapidly and cost-effectively than handheld solutions.
IVR not only eliminated all of the hardware logistics and expenses, but also provided immediate data accessibility.
This allowed us to monitor patient compliance in real time without waiting for the patient to transmit from an electronic device.
"For international trials, we often faced customs issues in sending electronic devices across borders.
We also had to ensure that the batteries in each device were fully charged and that the investigative sites had facilities to lock up the hardware to prevent theft.
Again, IVR solved these complex issues in a simple and straightforward way." ClinPhone's electronic diary solution - Patient Direct - uses a standard telephone to gather real-time information that is automatically validated and time stamped and available immediately to all study personnel.
The system is versatile and can be used for a variety of applications, including symptom assessment, quality of life measurement and health economic data collection.
More complex instruments can also be delivered including those measuring, for example, cognitive function or rating and the severity of psychiatric illness.
Unlike other electronic patient diary devices, IVR and IWR can also be used pre-study in conjunction with recruitment advertising campaigns to collect patient-recorded data to determine study qualification and eligibility.
As the need for electronic patient diaries continues to grow, ClinPhone is convinced that IVR and IWR solutions will be instrumental in meeting the demand and should be considered by sponsors planning patient data collection now and in the future.
