By Parexel Biotech The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) by biopharma companies. The clinician-patient relationship will always be key to clinical trials, but decentralized aspects such as direct-to-patient shipments and telehealth are here to stay. Here are four things we have learned about DCTs that biotech companies can consider when designing a decentralized or hybrid trial. DCTs can be better for patients Patient-centricity is a significant advantage of DCTs. "You can make a trial more patient-centric, reducing the burden on patients by not requiring them to travel to a site for every interaction," says Ada Wowk, Director of the Patient Innovation Center for Parexel.