2021 · Trials · open access
The future is now: our experience starting a remote clinical trial during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic
Liu et al.
The finding, in our words
The authors implemented a fully remote outpatient trial of hydroxychloroquine prophylaxis in 54 household COVID-19 contacts using self-collected saliva for SARS-CoV-2 RNA PCR testing and a smartphone-based six-lead ECG system for remote cardiac monitoring, with 42 participants completing the study and no serious treatment-related adverse events. The trial numbers were too small to assess prophylactic efficacy, but the experience demonstrates that decentralised enrolment, home diagnostic sampling and remote monitoring can be rapidly deployed in a community health system, while noting that lack of internet access excluded some potential participants.
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