In November 2024, Lindsay Kehoe, senior project manager at CTTI, presented at the Digital Biomarkers Summit held at ETH Zurich. The event gathered experts from academia, healthcare, and industry to discuss the transformative potential of wearable technologies in healthcare. Among the many topics covered, a key focus was the translation of digital innovations, such as wearable devices for sweat and breath, into clinical implementation to revolutionize healthcare. Digital technologies enable real-time, continuous monitoring of patient data, providing researchers and healthcare providers with deeper insights into patient health, improving trial design, and enhancing data accuracy.
In her workshop, Setting Up Digital Health Trials, Kehoe offered actionable insights on designing successful, fit-for-purpose digital health trials. She outlined key benefits, such as improving trial efficiency, fostering patient-centric research, and ensuring more reliable data. Kehoe also addressed common questions and challenges in implementing digital health trials and shared practical solutions for overcoming them. A central theme of her talk was the importance of communication and collaboration, emphasizing that “collaboration is key to bringing cutting-edge innovation into trials, addressing unmet needs, and improving trial efficiency.”
Dr. Jörg Goldhahn, a CTTI member and Professor at ETH Zurich, echoed Kehoe’s point, noting, “New technology offers great potential for novel biomarkers that can be used remotely, closer to ground truth, and on a continuous basis. However, intensive interprofessional collaboration is required to take these technologies from proof-of-concept into clinical use.”
Kehoe also discussed the importance of equipping researchers with the right tools and resources to successfully implement digital health strategies. She introduced essential resources from CTTI’s Digital Health Trials Hub, designed to guide researchers through key aspects of trial design, including selecting measures and appropriate technologies, managing data securely, developing novel endpoints, and collaborating effectively with clinical sites, patients, and regulators for seamless trial execution.
A notable example of how CTTI’s Digital Health Trials Recommendations are being put into practice is at ETH Zurich, where the institution has integrated these recommendations into its Digital Trial Intervention Platform within the Translational Science Advanced Studies program. This platform enhances the flexibility and scalability of clinical research and aims to optimize digital clinical study designs. These initiatives underscore the real-world impact of CTTI’s resources, demonstrating how we can take digital tools from bench to bedside and drive innovation in clinical research.
For those interested in seeing how CTTI’s resources are being applied in other research settings, the Case Study Exchange offers a range of real-world examples, showcasing how different organizations are integrating innovative tools and approaches into clinical trials.