Ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns and requirements of social distancing have swiftly pushed healthcare provision and patient monitoring towards remote options. Even though remote patient monitoring (RPM) was already being used before the start of the pandemic, the uptake of the technology was relatively low, primarily used to ensure better post-acute care and management of chronic conditions, such as diabetes. However, now the technology is uniquely positioned to lead to a fundamental change in healthcare services delivery and clinical trials, says GlobalData.

GlobalData’s latest report, ‘The State of the Biopharmaceutical Industry 2021’, reveals that RPM is expected to become the industry trend with the most impact on the pharma industry in 2021, as confirmed by 20 per cent of 198 pharma industry professionals.

Urte Jakimaviciute, Senior Director of Market Research, comments, “Despite much lower uptake in previous years, RPM got off to a strong start and witnessed a massive uptake in the life-sciences sector in 2020. With more patients, payers and physicians getting accustomed to virtual interactions, RPM will continue to transform healthcare delivery and accelerate adoption of decentralised/virtual clinical trials.”

With increasing numbers of patients, clinical practices and pharma companies getting hands-on experience with RPM, the adoption of remote monitoring tools is on course to remain solid even after COVID-19 recedes.

Jakimaviciute continues, “The COVID-19 outbreak provided a unique opportunity for RPM to gain widespread acceptance, demonstrate value, and subsequently become a ‘new normal’ across healthcare and pharma fields.

“Increasing RPM uptake will also drive a surge in other emerging industry trends such as patient empowerment, telemedicine, electronic health records, real-world evidence and decentralised clinical trials. The accelerated expansion of these trends will be further sustained by increasing technological advancements, the need to improve healthcare access in rural areas, the increasing ageing population, and the growing burden of chronic diseases.”

* A total of 198 GlobalData Pharma clients and prospects participated in the 10-minute survey, which was fielded from November 17, 2020 to December 11, 2020.