HOBOKEN, N.J. — Castor, a leading provider of clinical trial technology to Democratize Clinical Research, announced today continued rapid adoption of its decentralized clinical trial platform to power COVID-19 studies globally.
At the start of the pandemic, Castor joined the global fight against the COVID-19 by offering its user-friendly, globally scalable Decentralized Clinical Trial (DCT) platform for free for all COVID-19 research projects. Castor is supporting more than 250 COVID-19 studies in 40 countries across 1,750 hospitals. 62,000 participants are enrolled in these trials and more than 139 Million data points have been captured. The company has also developed pre-built electronic case report forms (eCRFs) based on World Health Organization (WHO) standards, to help researchers start their study or registry in less than an hour, and saw emergency COVID projects go live within 6.5 days on average.
“When novel strains of viruses like the Coronavirus emerge, data is clearly our most valuable asset. Our research platform has been made available for hundreds of COVID-19 studies across the world. We are committed to supporting researchers to better understand the COVID-19 virus to develop life-saving therapies and vaccines, optimize valuable hospital resources and ultimately improve patient outcomes,” said Derk Arts, M.D., Chief Executive Officer, Castor. “We are providing free access to our EDC and DCT solutions as part of our commitment to empower researchers, remove barriers, streamline the clinical research process, and save lives.”
Examples of COVID-19 studies powered by Castor’s eClinical suite:
- World Health Organization’s Solidarity trial, the largest adaptive COVID-19 clinical trial ever conducted, with database support, adaptive randomization, and customized offline data capture. It is one of the largest international randomized trials for COVID-19 treatments, having currently enrolled over 13,000 patients in 500 hospital sites in over 30 countries.
- COVID-RED, the world’s first study to use machine learning in the diagnosis of COVID-19. This Takeda supported decentralized trial uses an app paired with the AVA wearable to monitor changes in vitals, attempting to alert participants to possible COVID infection before they show symptoms.
- Lucira Health chose Castor for its validation study of its PCR-quality molecular COVID test, which produces results in 30 minutes or less. The self-administered test, designed for easy use at home, has 98% accuracy compared to high sensitivity lab PCR tests, and was approved for emergency use in the fight against COVID-19.
- COVID-Predict, a machine learning study which aims to understand and predict which COVID-19 patients should receive which treatment and which type of care. This ensures the optimal allocation of limited hospital resources and makes certain the most high-risk COVID-19 patients receive the highest level of care. Castor’s Enterprise Tableau integration helped researchers clearly visualize each patient’s outcomes, comorbidities, and complications quickly and easily.
Click here to view over 250 COVID-19 studies running on Castor’s DCT platform that can help patients self-screen, enroll through a patient portal and remotely consent to COVID-19 studies.
About Castor
Castor is a leading provider of decentralized and hybrid clinical trial solutions to democratize research. With the highest rated eClinical platform for decentralized and hybrid clinical trials, Castor’s plug and play platform offers rapid deployment at scale, enabling researchers to create a trial in a matter of clicks, with easy enrollment and real-world data capture. Castor is bringing human-centered design to the clinical trial process, from recruitment to analysis, and improving the quality, security and reusability of data for researchers worldwide.