Designing a next-generation virtual clinical trial platform

• ObvioHealth, a global digital health organisation, was seeking to launch a next-generation decentralised clinical trial platform that empowers clinical teams to deliver stronger evidence of efficacy and safety for their therapeutics

• Zühlke’s partnership helped ObvioHealth to accelerate speed to market while ensuring the solution complied with clinical trial regulatory, quality, and privacy rules globally

• The resulting platform enables code-free configuration of studies and is helping to reduce clinical trial build time by as much as 66%, leading to more efficient study startup and, ultimately, faster time to market for therapeutics

ObvioHealth, a pioneer in decentralised clinical trials (DCTs) is on a mission to transform the clinical study landscape. They have architected a unified and flexible digital platform to deliver more robust and reliable clinical outcomes with reduced burden on patients, sites, and clinicians. To accomplish their goal, they sought out a like-minded partner who could help them to execute seamless data collection and data management workflows.  

COVID-19 prompted a 50% rise in virtual clinical trials over just two years. ObvioHealth anticipated this evolution, launching their first virtual platform in 2017. The second platform launch builds on this momentum to make virtual trials work even harder for patients, clinicians, and sites. ObvioHealth leveraged Zühlke’s development expertise to complement its existing development team. Together, we set out to optimise the next-generation platform with AI and machine learning capabilities that could empower clinical science teams to deliver better outcomes.  

ObvioHealth’s new platform, branded ObvioGo®, comprise of five interoperable modules that cover the clinical trial lifecycle. ObvioGo offers study design, study management, outcomes capture and assessment, and data management capabilities as well as a front-end mobile application.  

User-friendly features such as an intuitive interface and drag-and-drop functionality were introduced to improve the user experience. Secure coding practices were applied throughout the development process to ensure the solution adheres to all regulatory requirements.  

Zühlke’s multi-disciplinary engineering experience in designing and delivering software-as-a-medical device (SaMD) in highly regulated healthcare and clinical research industries fuelled the close collaboration with ObvioHealth’s development teams. Together, Zühlke and ObvioHealth mapped out and developed key features within each module. Adoption of an agile development and delivery approach ensured close feedback loops, accelerating the roll-out of the solution. 

Zühlke worked closely with ObvioHealth throughout the entire delivery phase as a trusted technology partner. The five key modules were successfully integrated within the platform, with the flexibility to customise the solution according to the type of study.  

Supported by this borderless collaboration, ObvioHealth was able to build, operate, and launch a new digital health ecosystem to serve both biotechnology and pharmaceutical clinical science teams, moving ObvioHealth one step closer to achieving its mission of revolutionising the clinical trial landscape.