South Korea has made a name in the clinical trial industry through its unprecedented growth in the industry during the past two decades. There has been several regulatory reforms, adoption of ICH-GCP and continuous investment by the government to enhance the standards and quality of clinical trial conduct to make the country a Global Centre for Excellence in the region. The KoNECT or Korea National Enterprise for Clinical Trials is one such initiative and it has actively analysed data from the website ClinicalTrials.gov to make Korea a place with clinical trial opportunities. The regulators too have brought in a fast track approval process. In the year 2000 only 33 clinical trials were approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, but in 2018 it had increased to 679 clinical trials. This has taken Korea to the world map to be among the top 10 countries to have conducted trials since 2010. In addition, in 2019 the country has announced a 5 year plan to advance clinical trials using the latest technology, further reduce regulatory burden and boost pharmaceutical research to be a regional leader. 3H has a wealth of experience and the needed technology to help the S. Korean Clinical Trial Industry and its latest move into home clinical trial support.

Importance of Home Clinical Trial Support in S. Korea: The Republic of Korea has attained a very good health status in its population in comparison to most Asian nations, moving the life expectancy level to 77 years in males and 84 in females. Health check-ups in the general population is becoming common and there is awareness in the public on how to safeguard their health. The leading cause of death is cancer and currently there are many clinical trials being conducted in this therapeutic area. With the ageing population on the incline, it has created many challenges on families and the society on taking take of the elderly. The government’s implementation of the long-term care insurance program has brought in relief.

The elderly with serious limitations have difficulty in performing their daily tasks and depend solely on their care-givers. To make clinical trial participation more accessible for such elderly, the adoption of clinical trial support from homes has been much appreciated. This is a win-win situation for both pharmaceutical sponsors and the elderly population. Through home support for trial participation, the pharma sponsors have greater access to the target population with chronic diseases, those of whom otherwise may not enrol in clinical trials due to mobility issues.

South Korea Leads in Medical Technology: S. Korea has become one of Asia’s fastest growing medical technology markets and this has made it easy to switch from the traditional site based clinical trials into the modern virtual clinical trial world. With the global trend moving towards in-home clinical trial operations, Korea has been fast in adopting this practice. As a specialist in conducting patient-centric trials and telemedicine, 3H with its team supports both virtual and hybrid models of in-home and in-site clinical trial conduct.

Patient-Centricity & Technology Drive: Home based clinical trials have been possible through remote patient monitoring systems. 3H uses digital technology to collect health data from subjects at the ease of their homes and electronically transmit this information into a central clinical trial team of physicians securely. This way real time attention can be given to clinical trial subjects. 3H adopts a patient centric approach to give its subjects the best of care. Korean patients are now empowered to use online technology and the use of smart phones has increased, this has made the modern clinical trial subjects to look into having flexibility and better time management with less travel to sites with more preference towards visits done at home.

3H has switched to Clinical Trial Support from homes to suit the lifestyle of the modern trial subjects. In addition to the use of smart wearables and digital medical devices, 3H has well trained professional support staff like clinicians, nurses and clinical research coordinators who visit patient’s home to conduct the study visit procedures when needed. This helps with greater patient engagement and improves patient retention rates and is great for patients with chronic disease who need assistance by a care-giver for travel. Home clinical trial support by 3H helps pharmaceutical companies and sponsors to conduct clinical trials efficiently and at a fraction of a cost in Korea by going site-less while operating through a centralised clinical trial space.

3H initiatives in South Korea: 3H has over a decade of experience in clinical trial management from site selection to developing strategies for subject recruitment to conducting patient visits. In line with the South Korean regulations, the clinicians working for 3H are verified and licenced by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs of Korea. In addition, the company has expertise in the latest technology to run clinical trials more efficiently at a lower cost. Using this wealth of experience, 3H has been able to successfully implement clinical trial conduct support at home. The 3H support teams in Korea are conversant with the native language and focus on the clinical trial subjects to provide a great service. With partnerships across many clinical trial centres in Asia, 3H is the best choice to simplify your clinical trial management journey.

South Korea is a country of opportunity, backed by government support NHIS and HIRA has switched to modern technological reforms introducing electronic data for evidence based policies. Projects such as U-health care telehealth projects have made the elderly, remotely located populations and patients with chronic disease inclusive and accessible to Korean healthcare. This progress has been a great ladder for home based clinical support and 3H shapes future progress in this field in Korea.

To know more about 3H approach for Home Nursing Support in South Korea, please contact imran@3h-ms.co.jp