Pivotal trial results published: digital support improves cancer side effects and reduces hospitalisation costs
Background: evidence of impact of digital oncology in a challenging setting
Cancer and its treatments affect patients in several ways, impacting their daily lives and causing several side effects.
The CLIMEDIN trial recruited 200 patients with a very challenging diagnosis (advanced or metastatic lung cancer), who engaged with the CareAcross digital solution on side-effect reduction.
The final results have now been published in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics, an ASCO journal.
All patients received standard of care treatments comprising combinations of chemotherapy, targeted treatment and immunotherapy.
As detailed in the publication, half of the patients (Intervention arm) received personalised support to help improve their side-effects; the other half (Control arm) only received an acknowledgment.
Reducing side-effects through personalised interventions
The trial was designed to capture Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) from patients through an online platform, and deliver self-care support to help them improve their side-effects. This support consisted of material curated from a library of educational and supportive content, personalised for each individual patient, and delivered securely to their personal portal on the online platform.
This makes CLIMEDIN one of the few digital oncology trials with published results on side-effect reduction.
Method: Online platform and intervention based on years of experience
The platform utilised for the CLIMEDIN trial was built specifically for the target population and the corresponding goal. At the same time, it was based on the evolution of the company’s software through more than 10 such platforms, which have collectively supported tens of thousands of patients, with different cancer types, in several countries. Their results have been presented in several international conferences including ESMO & ASCO.
The clinical trial included Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) for all clinicians, which was delivered by the platform in an actionable but intuitive manner. The RPM solution did not intervene with clinicians’ workflow but enhanced their ability to prioritise and address patient concerns (proactively, as well as during consultations).
Results: substantial reduction in side-effects and costs
The trial addressed 22 side-effects. Through the self-care interventions delivered via the online platform, 17 side-effects were reduced more for patients in the Intervention arm compared to the Control arm (4 side-effects were reduced more in the Control arm, and 1 had the same reduction).
As described in the published paper in the JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics journal, patients’ side-effects improved across both arms, making the broadly consistent incremental improvement in the Intervention arm even more impressive.
Moreover, patients in the Intervention arm were associated with 47.5% lower costs of hospitalisation.
Finally, clinicians had access to much more complete view of their patients’ quality of life through PROs always at their fingertips via the RPM solution (89% online vs 68% reported in clinic).
Impact: every patient deserves digital patient support
The results delivered by the CareAcross digital support solution make it clear that such services should be available to every cancer patient. The experience of the lung cancer patients who, despite their challenging condition and demanding treatments, utilised the platform and improved their side-effects, should be replicated more broadly. The financial benefits to healthcare systems, as evidenced by the lower hospitalisation costs, are another strong reason to advocate for further adoption.
Call to action: shape the future of digital patient support
If you focus on cancer patients or clinicians, in any capacity, we are eager to hear from you: please email us to share your priorities and interests so that we can jointly share the future of patient support.
Acknowledgements
CareAcross would like to acknowledge HeCOG as the leading partner in this study, recognise the important help of healthcare professionals, as well as the funding this study received from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
Most of all, we are all indebted to the cancer patients who participated in this clinical trial, despite their challenging diagnosis. We are deeply grateful to these 200 patients and their caregivers.