Trials you can join from home

For decades, joining a trial meant living near one. That's changing. Decentralized trials — and the more common hybrid designs — move parts of the study to wherever you are, which matters enormously if the nearest research center is three hours away, or if travel itself is the hard part of your condition.

What can happen remotely

Quite a lot, depending on the protocol: study visits by video, study medication shipped to your door, blood draws done at a local lab or by a visiting nurse, symptom diaries on your phone, and monitoring through wearables. Some studies are designed to be fully remote from consent to final visit.

What usually doesn't

Honesty matters here: most “remote” trials are hybrid, not fully virtual. Imaging, infusions, biopsies, and certain physical assessments still require equipment and clinicians in one place. A typical hybrid design concentrates the on-site work at the start and end of a study, with the routine middle handled from home. Read the visit schedule, not just the headline.

Finding them on MyTrial

Search naturally — “trials I can join from home” works — or ask in your own words and we'll surface studies whose designs minimize travel, alongside what each one still requires on-site. As always, a match is a starting point: only the study team can confirm your eligibility, and they're also the right people to confirm exactly which visits can happen remotely for you.