I think it is potentially a good development . it could open up clinical trial participation to many who couldn’t do so before --- due to difficulty traveling, cost, those who live in rural areas or small cities where few trial centers are easily accessible. Of course, you still need to have access to a computer, which still might prevent a sizable number from participating.

It does seem like in the last few years the pharma companies and academic sites have come to better understand the need to provide full travel expenses for both PWP and their caregivers, so that they can participate in clinical trials. And this happened only because patients spoke up about it. Virtual trials would be a lot less expensive for the trial sponsors.

There are lots of questions, and hopefully the companies planning virtual clinical trials will be working together with all stakeholders , so that there is uniformity and data can be compared from one trial to another. What outcome measures would be used? cchanges wll be needed in the traditional outcome measures, such as the UPDRS . Hopefully each company is NOT going to be doing its own thing

I also participated in the Kinetics at home trial. One of the tasks was simple finger tapping on their device and moving pegs, while both off and on meds. I asked the trial staff, if this really can provide much information beyond just measuring hand dexterity, and they said that it actually can.

Some may not be ready for the future, but the future is already here