2022 · Clinical and translational science · open access
The ATEAM study: Advances in technology to enhance PrEP adherence monitoring (ATEAM) among young men who have sex with men
Brothers et al.
The finding, in our words
Among young men who have sex with men and transgender women taking PrEP, adherence measured by a wearable digital medicine system correlated with drug concentrations in self-collected dried blood spots (p=0.03). Most participants found the patch uncomfortable to wear, indicating that while digital monitoring can support decentralised therapeutic drug monitoring, device acceptability remains a barrier.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
Merck describes a digitally enabled, patient-centric trial initiative that combines outpatient PK/PD sampling with digital biomarkers and smart dosing technologies to improve exposure-response understanding and reduce patient burden, while acknowledging adoption challenges.
Dockendorf et al., Clinical and translational science · source ↗
In a 20-person proof-of-concept pilot among veterans with HIV, remote self-collection of dried blood spots for phosphatidylethanol monitoring was feasible and acceptable, with high return and analysis rates and positive feedback; a small first step toward decentralised alcohol biomarker monitoring rather than proof of it.
Sheinfil et al., Journal of substance use and addiction treatment (paywalled) · source ↗
This review establishes that microsampling across blood, saliva, urine and stool matrices offers validated workflows and regulatory recognition for human biomonitoring comparable to conventional methods. It finds that these decentralised approaches enhance participant acceptability and enable screening in remote or low-resource settings.
Thirty-eight patients with rheumatic diseases showed high engagement with twice-daily smartphone symptom reporting (95% completion) and remote dried blood spot collection (84% returned samples, all viable for C-reactive protein analysis). Although symptoms varied considerably, clinically meaningful CRP changes were rare, confirming the feasibility of integrating microsampling with patient-generated health data in decentralised rheumatology research.
Druce et al., BMC musculoskeletal disorders · source ↗
This review found that volumetric microsampling devices, such as Mitra, HemaPEN, HemaXis DB10, and Tasso-M20, overcome haematocrit bias, whilst Telimmune plasma separation cards enable direct plasma collection without centrifugation. These technologies support patient-centric, decentralised sampling, though the authors note that clinical validation remains limited across different drugs and patient populations.
Huhn & Scherf-Clavel, Therapeutic drug monitoring (paywalled) · source ↗