Source: NextDraft
Clinical trials have moved out of hospitals and into everyday life through smartphones, wearables, and consumer health apps that continuously collect biometric data on populations at scale—turning users into research subjects without formal informed consent structures. Companies like Apple, Fitbit, and Oura are running parallel medical studies on their user bases, generating datasets that pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions increasingly rely on for drug development and epidemiological research. The economic model inverts the traditional clinical trial: participants pay for the device while providing the data that grounds the next generation of treatments. Value accrues to device makers and researchers; research risk accrues to users.