Virtual Clinical Trials Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Study Design (Interventional, Observational, Expanded Access), By Indication (Oncology, Cardiovascular Disease), By Phase, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2023 - 2030

Report Overview

The global virtual clinical trials market size was valued at USD 8.3 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7% from 2023 to 2030. The market is majorly driven by a rise in R&D activities, increasing healthcare digitization, as well as the adoption of telehealth. Besides, technological advancements, alliances between clinical research organizations, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology companies as well as supportive government initiatives are anticipated to drive the market. The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way of conducting ongoing or upcoming trials which positively impacted the virtual clinical trials industry.

As per the continuum clinical report published in April 2020, approximately 30% of the surveyed clinical trial places are projected to have a huge impact on recruiting patients for new trial studies as well as retaining already-enrolled patients compliant with their study schedules. Also, 81% of the European clinical trial study sites and 56% of the U.S. sites indicated that the patients are less likely to continue participating in studies. Besides, as of March 30, around 30 pharma or biotech companies have reported disruption to a trial as a result of the crisis. Virtual trials also known as decentralized trials had a significant role to play in the COVID-19 crisis and are set to become a norm in the way trials and real-world studies are run.

A virtual method lets people take part in the trial from their homes ensuring research can continue even when site visits cannot, hence, representing a novel approach of collecting safety and efficacy data from participants of clinical studies. Virtual visits and remote patient monitoring of in-person site visits give participants a choice and peace of mind for not being exposed to unnecessary risks. The virtual studies enable sponsors to include a larger population in the study, thus improving recruitment, engagement, and retention. Also, it enables continuous real-time data collection through digital health technologies. Eventually, virtual connectivity, monitoring as well as management can significantly decrease the effort, time commitment, and burden on the participants, CRCs, and investigators.

Study Design Insights

The interventional design segment led the Virtual/Decentralized Clinical Trials (DCTs) market and accounted for the largest revenue share of 46.7% in 2022. The rapid increase in the number of experiments to develop novel medications for various diseases and the digitalization of laboratories are factors driving the segment. The outbreak of coronavirus has raised the demand for testing and trials of new drugs and vaccines to combat the situation around the world as the traditional method of clinical trials comes with a huge risk of infection in people. Thus, propelling the demand for interventional study designs.

The virtual trials are better suited for chronic diseases as well as less interventional observational studies including cardiovascular diseases, immunology, gastrointestinal, dermatology, respiratory, and endocrinology. The firm that first started this concept conducted an entire interventional Phase2b “site-less” clinical trial with 372 patients across 10 states using their proprietary mobile telemedicine-based platform namely “NORA”. The expanded access segment is expected to account for the highest CAGR over the forecast period. Expanded access is a potential pathway that is appropriate where the potential benefit for the patient subdues the potential risks, hence continuous emergence of new variants of COVID-19 is expected to drive demand for expanded access to new drugs over a short term.

Indication Insights

The oncology segment dominated the market for virtual/decentralized clinical trials and accounted for the largest revenue share of over 25.0% in 2022. The segment is also anticipated to contribute to the maximum share of the market during the forecast period. This is attributed to the rising cases of cancer globally and the increasing number of oncology clinical trials. Cancer patients are the most vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic. Investigators and sponsors managing oncology clinical trials have quickly incorporated virtual and remote trials to keep patients safe and trials moving forward.

Besides, cancer researchers face considerable challenges in patient recruitment. As of March 2023, approximately 18,428 oncology trials were actively recruiting with a participation rate to be low, ranging from 2% to 8% of possible candidates, with an even more limited number in minority and geriatric populations. Low rate of enrollment poses risks to the success of specific clinical studies, they may hamper the treatment advances and corresponding benefits to outcomes. Hence, the low recruitment rate and the need for a diverse population for oncology clinical studies are anticipated to boost the adoption of virtual clinical trials.

Phase Insights

The phase II segment dominated the virtual clinical trials market and accounted for the largest revenue share of over 30% in 2022. This is largely due to the adoption of DCT tools and platforms in phase II and phase I clinical trial procedures for patient participation. Virtual clinical trials are most beneficial in phase II of the clinical trials as It delivers value to the biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical industry by saving time-sensitive patient data, delayed approvals, and site payments.

Traditional phase II clinical trials are the most expensive trials because the largest expense is the central clinical located in a large hospital to which the participants are required to report on a regular basis. Also, there is a large number of participants in the phase II clinical trials. While phase II virtual clinical trials are performed remotely with the help of the Internet, from recruiting to screening the data, which reduces the travel burden of the participants in the phase II trials and also reduces the cost of trials that no longer need to support frequent visit to the hospitals.

Phase III segment, on the other hand, is anticipated to register the fastest CAGR of over 5.0% during the forecast period. Digital forces such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Computing, Cloud, robotics, and social media offer opportunities to reimagine clinical trial processes. Some pharmaceutical companies are conducting virtual trials in addition to onsite traditional trials in Phase III & phase IV for additional data from diverse patient populations across the globe. Virtual clinical trials in phase III could automate data collection, increase patient engagement and retention, and data can be easily accessed through the monitoring devices by trial investigators in real-time. The aforementioned associated benefits is further anticipated to provide this segment with lucrative growth opportunities over the forecast period.

Regional Insights

North America dominated the market for virtual clinical trials and accounted for the largest revenue share of 49.0% in 2022. The segment is expected to continue its dominance over the forecast period. This can be attributed to increasing R&D in this region, increasing the adoption of new technologies in clinical research as well as government support. Furthermore, market players are also using digital technologies to meet client needs. For instance, Parexel performed more than 100 decentralized trials including hybrid and virtual approaches. Covance also has around 1,900 LabCorp Patient Service Centers across the U.S. that bring the trial to patients.

In Asia Pacific, the market for virtual clinical trials is anticipated to expand at the fastest CAGR of 6.8% during the forecast period owing to the increasing availability of a large patient pool enabling easy recruitment of candidates along with enhanced penetration of digital technologies in the region. Furthermore, the outbreak of coronavirus is anticipated to boost the adoption of telemedicine, thus driving the market in the region. China was the largest market in the Asia Pacific in 2022, majorly due to high healthcare and R&D expenditure and increasing demand for virtual clinical trials in the market.

Key Companies & Market Share Insights

The market for global virtual clinical trials is highly competitive. Significant factors affecting the competitive nature are the quick adoption of advanced technology for improved healthcare. Besides, players are also acquiring, collaborating, and partnering with other firms to gain market share. For instance, in February 2022, Parexel International Corporation extended its strategic partnership with -Medidata, to advance the delivery of virtual/decentralized clinical trials. Some of the prominent players in the global virtual clinical trials market include:

• ICON, plc

• Parexel International Corporation

• IQVIA

• Covance

• PRA Health Sciences

• LEO Innovation Lab

• Medidata

• Oracle

• CRF Health

• Clinical Ink

• Medable, Inc.

• Signant Health

• Halo Health Systems

• Croprime

Recent Developments

• In February 2023, Nova Scotia Health forged a strategic partnership with Medable Inc. for a two-year pilot study aimed at enhancing access to clinical trials. This collaboration exemplified a progressive approach in utilizing virtual clinical trial technologies to overcome geographical constraints, optimize patient experience, and elevate overall outcomes within the realm of clinical research.

• In July 2023, Signant Health completed the acquisition of DSG, strategically augmenting its eClinical solution suite for both traditional and decentralized clinical trials. By integrating DSG's unified platform, the acquisition facilitated the development of a comprehensive trial ecosystem equipped with advanced software, analytics, and logistics solutions, enabling seamless study conduct and data generation across all modalities, thereby accomplishing the goal of fully digitalizing clinical trials.

• In June 2023, Medable Inc. unveiled a comprehensive toolkit tailored for Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)/Ethics Committees (ECs), designed to establish standardized ethics review procedures for decentralized clinical trials (DCTs). The implementation of this toolkit successfully simplified, streamlined, and accelerated the IRB/EC process, playing a pivotal role in fostering enhanced efficiency and patient-centeredness in the execution of DCTs.

• In June 2022, Signant Health announced significant strides in its electronic Clinical Outcomes Assessment (eCOA) software, Signant SmartSignals eCOA. The software catered to the requirements of trial sponsors and Contract Research Organizations (CROs) seeking highly configurable and rapidly deployable eCOA solutions, compatible with various devices through a unified study build—a critical aspect for conducting virtual clinical trials.

• In October 2022, Oracle and ObvioHealth entered into a strategic collaboration to integrate diverse data sets into virtual/decentralized clinical trials in the Asia Pacific region. This initiative is expected to allow the quick collection, integration and analysis of multi-source data collected from labs, devices, patients, and sites

• In August 2022, Medable Inc., launched a novel software solution that aided in the simplification of virtual/decentralized clinical trials for vaccines. This initiative was believed to boost the growth of global clinical trial access while cutting deployment time by 50%

• In July 2022, Signant Health introduced telemedicine platform innovations to optimize virtual and remote clinical trial operations

• In July 2022, Signant Health unveiled significant upgrades to its Randomization and Trial Supply Management (RTSM) platform, empowering direct-to-patient clinical supply distribution. The improved RTSM solution featured seamless storage of patient shipment addresses, integration with depot/central pharmacy ordering systems, and real-time courier status reporting which fulfilled the necessities of virtual clinical trials.

 Virtual Clinical Trials Market Report Scope

Global Virtual Clinical Trials Market Report Segmentation

This report forecasts revenue growth at the global, regional, and country levels and provides an analysis of the latest industry trends in each of the sub-segments from 2018 to 2030. For this study, Grand View Research has segmented the global virtual clinical trials market report based on study design, indication, phase, and region:

• Study Design Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

  • Interventional

  • Observational

  • Expanded Access

• Indication Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

  • CNS

  • Autoimmune/Inflammation

  • Cardiovascular Disease

  • Metabolic/Endocrinology

  • Infectious Disease

  • Oncology

  • Genitourinary

  • Ophthalmology

  • Others

• Phase Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

  • Phase I

  • Phase II

  • Phase III

  • Phase IV

• Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

  • North America

    • U.S.

    • Canada

  • Europe

    • U.K.

    • Germany

    • France

    • Italy

    • Spain

    • Denmark

    • Sweden

    • Norway

  • Asia Pacific

    • India

    • China

    • Japan

    • Australia

    • Thailand

    • South Korea

  • Latin America

    • Brazil

    • Mexico

    • Argentina

  • Middle East & Africa

    • South Africa

    • Saudi Arabia

    • UAE

    • Kuwait