At A Life in a Day, our drive and mission is built on delivering powerful, immersive experiences that enable those in the life sciences to walk in the shoes of patients living with a wide range of conditions. With over 40 therapy areas and counting, these experiences are more than just simulations; they’re a gateway to empathy, understanding, and, ultimately, transformation in the way care is delivered.
Among our most recent programmes is A Life in a Day of a person participating in a clinical trial, an experience inspired by a growing and urgent conversation across the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry: the importance of patient centricity in clinical trials. From keynote talks at global conferences to deep-dive interviews with patients for their unique insights, one message keeps surfacing: if trials are for patients, they need to be built with patients in mind, every step of the way.
Through both our experience design and ongoing conversations with patients, clinicians, and trial facilitators, we’ve identified three key areas where patient centricity can come to life in clinical trials.
1. Patient participation starts long before they walk through the door
Clinical trials often focus on what happens during participation, but for many patients, the biggest challenges begin before the first visit. In our current clinical trial experience, participants embody the life of a person living with asthma and follow their journey into a clinical trial setting. What quickly becomes apparent is that attendance isn’t just a matter of scheduling; it’s a matter of physical and emotional logistics.
An asthma patient, for example, may struggle to travel during high pollen days or after a sleepless night due to breathlessness. They may have to arrange time off work, secure childcare, or manage the anxiety of navigating public transport while short of breath. And that’s just asthma. Imagine the layered complexity for someone managing a degenerative neurological condition or living with multiple comorbidities. True patient centricity begins by recognising that every patient’s journey is unique.
2. The emotional toll of participation is just as real as the physical
During a recent industry event, a patient bravely took the stage to share his clinical trial experience. The first thing he was told? “Your participation in this trial is not for your benefit, it’s for the benefit of future patients.” While perhaps intended as transparency, this statement landed heavily. Imagine stepping into a clinical trial – often during one of the most vulnerable times in your life – only to be told you might not benefit at all.
Add to that the looming anxiety about whether you’ll receive the active drug or the placebo. The constant weighing of risk versus hope. The emotional fatigue of endless forms, hospital visits, and tests. And the quiet disappointment of never hearing from the trial again once it’s over.
We’ve heard from many patients who feel “used and discarded” after participating in trials. No follow-up. No outcomes shared. No acknowledgement of their time, effort, or contribution.
Being truly patient-centric means considering the whole person, not just their body. It means clear, compassionate communication from day one. And it means closing the loop by updating them on outcomes, thanking them meaningfully, and involving them in what comes next.
3. Involve patients from day one
The phrase “patient centricity” risks becoming merely a concept if it isn’t backed by meaningful action. And action means inclusion throughout the entire clinical trial process.
Is the protocol readable and relatable to the patient? Are the processes intuitive? Are data collection methods intrusive or exhausting? These are questions that can only be answered if you involve the people the trial is ultimately for: the patients themselves.
In designing our immersive trial experience, we deliberately extended it beyond the usual 24 hours to truly reflect a participant’s journey. It’s long, nuanced, and full of shifting emotions and experiences. We wanted participants in our experience to feel that by carrying the weight of decisions, to juggle symptoms alongside research requirements, and to experience the relief – or regret – of those choices.
A better trial experience benefits everyone
There’s a common misconception that patient-centric trials are more costly or complex. Participants through our experience are telling a different story however, with some reporting cost reductions through improved trial efficiency. This is down to their newfound empathy for the patient, understanding their journey more so that when decisions are made, the patients see the benefit of more informed decisions.
Patient centricity isn’t just good ethics; it’s good science. It leads to more reliable data, smoother processes, and better long-term relationships between patients and the organisations developing treatments. Most importantly, it honours the human beings at the heart of medical progress.
