Over the years, the overall cost of the drug development process has been exponentially increasing, prompting the adoption and use of adaptive clinical trial design software. Though there are practical difficulties and barriers in implementing clinical trial solutions, these problems are adequately addressed to overcome these issues as they arise.
With advancements in software technologies, further improvements are being made to the software’s adaptive clinical trial design. Despite these progresses, just only a handful of well-established software with various types of clinical trial adaptations is currently available. [1].
With the emergence of new or targeted therapies, these clinical trial solutions are increasingly gathering steam in evaluating clinically validated therapeutic targets/biomarkers for rapid evaluation of experimental compounds. Independent research studies have analyzed prospective and completed trials methodologies to highlight the pros and cons of adaptive clinical trial designs, albeit without much on clinical trial design software. [2].
To maximize the impact, efficiency and success of the clinical trial, choosing the right clinical trial sponsor and software relevant to the trial is the key. Most of the clinical trial sponsors miss this aspect, resulting in the generation of less robust outcomes and clinical trial failures. [3].
Identifying the clinical trial software with distinct functionalities, specific to the clinical trials will help the sponsors to narrow down the available software options. Some of the important criteria for potential software to be considered are regulatory compliance and related data management, seamless user interface, cost implications and management. [4] Additionally, the reputation of the clinical trial software company based on previous experience in the niche should also be considered. Considering the client testimonials, case studies and user reviews (unpaid and genuine) will provide valuable insights about the real-world performance of the clinical trial design software.
Clinical trial design software are specialized tools to streamline the testing process of experimental treatments, study design and treatments. As a part of clinical trial management system, the clinical trial design software helps the sponsors and investigators to organization, collection and management of study volunteers’ data including recruitment and analysis to improve clinical trial outcomes.
The clinical trial design software helps the users to centralize and automate the data management tasks and thus ensures efficiency and reliability of clinical trials with better patient care.
Some of the main reasons as to why choosing the right clinical trial software is very important are:
For higher end-user satisfaction and effective use of clinical trial design software, a user-friendly interface with an intuitive design is very important for easy navigation. These pros could reduce complexities while increasing workforce efficiency and positive output.
Data accuracy is a crucial factor in determining the clinical trial outcomes. Thus, choosing a reliable clinical trial solution could minimize data collection errors, and analysis while providing accurate results. The data accuracy improves the robustness of the study and also makes informed decisions.
One of the important features of the clinical trial software is ensuring regulatory compliance with strict adherence with guidelines and standards for assured successful outcomes and scientific credibility of the generated data. The main feature of the clinical trial design software is automated compliance process for seamless work process.
Handling the sensitive/personal data of the patients mandates uncompromised data protection without any breach. Data protection by double-masking improves confidentiality and thus maintains data integrity and trust among the stakeholders. The right software can streamline the workflow effectively and thus increase productivity, and reduce delays while optimising utilization of the resources and timely completion of the trial study.
Clinical trial solutions with flexibility and scalability can help users to adapt and evolve according to clinical trial requirements. Scalability allows seamless integration of additional clinical trial data without reprogramming of the parameters. The companies that offer 24/7 support to address issues quickly and maintain smooth workflow, as the workforce can exclusively focus on the tasks without worrying about troubleshooting technical snags.
The study volunteers’ recruitment and retention can be facilitated by stream-lined processes with little to no paperwork and a related waiting period. Quick entry of patients’ data with features for data amendment helps the generation of reliable data.
The randomization of the patients’ cohorts and blinding can be precisely performed with the clinical trial design software with enhanced randomization features. These software offer real-time monitoring features to data capture, track and analyze the captured data while eliminating biases/anomalies.
The end users evaluate the pricing models to avoid hidden fees, recurring overhead and maintenance charges without exceeding the budget. The pricing should be transparent without any further costs such as periodical software updates etc. The reputation of the software company backed by client testimonials, user reviews and feedback should also be considered for long-term trustworthiness and responsive customer service.
Software with collaborative interface and real-time communication tools:
Choosing the software with collaboration among the investigators, biostatisticians, clinicians and other stakeholders will improve collaboration among the team and also to stay well-informed. The software armed with instant messaging service with options to form respective groups can allow secure and timely communication, while cutting communication delays.
Selecting trial management software with the option to optimize, allocate and manage the resources for enhanced productivity. The optimization can cut costs, speed up study completion, and enhance data quality while providing logistics management support, which is crucial in clinical trial management. The availability of customization improves trial outcomes and user satisfaction. Software with options to integrate with the existing systems and project management software could allow the users to port out effectively and quickly.
BioClinica CTMS [5] is one of the popular clinical trial design software widely used in the clinical trials to optimize and manage various tasks. The user-friendly platform enables seamless and efficient planning, management and updating the trial data, thus allowing the trial administrators to monitor the work progress and regulatory compliance.
This clinical trial design solution allows real-time communication among the stakeholders to make well-informed decisions based on precise data such as patient recruitment, funding, drug logistics etc.
IBM Clinical Development [6] allows efficient management of the clinical trial process by providing end-to-end solutions for clinical trial protocol planning, design and execution. This cloud-based software simplifies every stage of the trial while allowing seamless communication between the team members on a real-time basis. This software is enabled with a user-friendly interface with added features such as electronic data capture, data monitoring and randomization to reduce data errors and processing time while improving data quality, integrity and regulatory compliance. Several contract research organizations preferentially employ this software for clinical trial management for data precision, quick data capture and adherence to data monitoring compliance.
EDGE research management [7] is a clinical trial software management solution widely employed by clinical trial researchers. With its innovative features, this clinical trial software simplifies the entire process to effectively manage clinical trial study protocol, patient recruitment data and monitoring, data security and regulatory compliance. With a secured communication option, EDGE offers real-time communication among the team members. The intuitive design of this software caters for the requirements of varying levels of expertise in clinical trials, according to the requirements and expertise (newbie to experts).
The Clinical Trial Risk Tool, developed by Fast Data Science, allows you to upload your clinical trial protocol and analyses it in under a minute, calculating the sample size and other factors and identifying if the trial is at risk of failure to deliver informative results.
The tool’s design is open source and has been published in Gates Open Research. [20]
Check your trial design
MasterControl CTMS Software [8] s one of the cutting-edge clinical trial design software in executing clinical trial monitoring and data management, This centralized platform enabled software improve work output efficiency by reducing billing hours and data errors. The workflow is further simplified by user-friendly interface for easy navigation, integrating other similar platforms and data entry and removal at any point of a clinical trial.
Among the clinical trial solutions, Dot Compliance [9] stands out of the crowd in managing and organizing the trial documentation process with strict adherence to regulatory standards. The software simplifies the data management while tracking protocol compliance, billing compliance and regulatory compliance. As with other solutions, this software offers a centralized data management process accessible to every role of the clinical trial
Clinical Conductor CTMS [10] software has been developed to optimize the workflow of clinical trials with its centralized streamline process. With conventional management tools, this software has site management, financial tracking, patient dropping rate and a few other parameters for enhanced clinical trial management and monitoring. To track real-time work progress, resource allocation and collaboration, this software provides instant messaging communication tools in addition to other conventional clinical trial solutions.
Ripple is a clinical trial management [11] platform that offers innovative solutions for complex processes to facilitate data collection and analysis. This platform offers automated reporting of the analysis and results thus eliminating the need to perform administrative tasks. Focusing exclusively on the scientific aspects of clinical trials could improve decision-making and trial outcomes.
RealTime CTMS [12] is a centralized trial data hub management tool for enhanced collaboration and to reduce errors. For quick adoption of this software, various budgeting tools including financial oversight, cash flow and cash runway are added to promote transparency in the clinical trials. As like any other software, this software offers all conventional data management and monitoring tools.
Ennov CTMS [13] has been designed to oversee management and optimize various processes of clinical trials and to manage effectively. This software offers more flexibility, and adaptability to evolving needs and also to accommodate various trial parameters.
Developed by Berry Consultants, FACTS software [14] simulates statistical analysis design and forecasts the statistical outcomes and endpoints. This tool estimates the time to endpoints, study volunteers drop rate recruitment/retaining etc. This tool can simulate basket and umbrella trials by utilizing the interim data, sub-group analysis and related modelling to make early decisions before the actual outcome or obtaining the final data. Compared with other software, this tool has been designed for simulation of the results rather than just only for data management. This software is helpful for the biostatistics team to design and refine clinical trial design and adaptations thus providing early simulation results to other team members.
Developed by Icon Plc, ADDPLAN [15] is simulation software to analyze the statistical design and estimate the robustness/power of the study. This clinical trial design tool is comprised of four different modules with adaptive design for flexibility in the constantly evolving clinical trial environment. These adaptations are mostly based on primary endpoints. In the recent advanced updates of ADDPLAN, the execution of R code has been included for simultaneous simulation and analyses of the study design.
For fixed sample size trials, EAST [16] is one of the best statistical software modules for simulating and monitoring the adaptive clinical trial design. This solution comes with basic and several add-on modules for endpoints analysis and sequential analysis that facilitate multi-arm studies monitoring [17]. These features help to make early informed decisions including early stopping of the clinical trial. This software has two-stage designs with normal and binomial endpoints to analyse and determine the statistical significance [18].
HECT (Highly Efficient Trials Simulator) software is a planning and simulating solution for adaptive clinical trials. This tool is enabled to simulate up to 10 treatment cohorts while comparing to the placebo or any other comparator arm. Based on the interim analysis using Bayesian posterior technique, the arms can be added or dropped. Based on the comparison, response-adaptive randomization can be implemented to avoid type I errors and to improve power [19].
Adaptive clinical trials are now widely implemented to allow pre-determined changes based on the interim analysis. Adaptive clinical trials detect the scientific worthiness of the trial and benefits for the study volunteers. The clinical trial design software can significantly de-risk the study by simulating the design and predict the outcomes while eliminating bias and study failure risks, thus significantly improve the clinical trial outcomes.
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A clinical trial protocol is a document which serves as the step-by-step playbook for running the trial. The clinical trial protocol guides the study researchers to run the clinical trial effectively within a stipulated period. The prime focus of the clinical trial protocol is to ensure patients’ safety and data security. [1, 2] As the clinical trial protocol is an essential document for the seamless execution of the clinical trial, reviewing (peer-reviewing) the protocol is essential to ensure the scientific validity/viability/quality of the protocol.
Guest post by Safeer Khan, Lecturer at Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Government College University, Lahore, Pakistan Introduction As we move toward 2025, clinical trial regulations are undergoing significant transformation. This shift is being fueled by technological advancements, changing healthcare needs, and an increasing emphasis on transparency and patient safety. In this post, we will explore the key clinical trial regulations shaping the clinical trial landscape, the challenges professionals face, and the strategies they must adopt to navigate this ever-evolving environment.
Thomas Wood has recently joined the Clinical Trial Files podcast with Karin Avila and Taymeyah Al-Toubah, discussing the inception of the Clinical Trial Risk Tool, what impact AI can make in clinical trials, and what Alan Turing would make of it all. This is an episode dedicated to Alan Turing’s 113th birthday on 23 June 2025. You can find the episode on Spotify Apple Podcasts Amazon Music Podcast Index Fountain Podcast Addict Podverse.
