#trial: Clinical research in the age of social media

摘要

Research programmes, data analysis, and conduct of clinical trials have traditionally been the preserve of clinicians and researchers. Now, however, social media and crowdsourcing are becoming ever present and widely used. For example, Crowdsourcing Cancer Research: The Role of Quantitative Challenges was a recent topic at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting in San Diego on April 7, 2014- Indeed, social media is empowering patients in ways that are changing how clinical research is done, but are these changes beneficial or do they undermine integrity? In some cases, crowdsourcing is being used by researchers to actively solicit patients' involvement and input into trials. For example, a phase 2 study of prostate cancer solicited opinions about protocol design from patients online. By contrast with traditional patient representation on ethics boards, this method gathers a greater range of opinions.