Digital platforms for clinical trials: The Eureka experience

Clinical trials are critically necessary for evaluating new medical drugs, devices, and other interventions designed to improve health. Digital methods have the potential to dramatically reduce the time and expense involved in clinical research, though they also pose new challenges for investigators. The Eureka Research Platform was developed as a national resource for digitizing and mobilizing health research. Platforms like Eureka enable innovation in trial design and methods, enabling remote recruitment strategies, mobile health data collection through connected devices and apps, geofencing for event ascertainment and location-based data collection, ecological momentary assessments, and intervention delivery. Here we describe our cumulative Eureka experience across more than 50 studies launched to date and offer perspectives on emerging opportunities.