CNS and neurology trials put more pressure on data capture than almost any other area. Validated cognitive and functional assessments must be deployed precisely, patient compliance in cognitively impaired populations is a persistent operational challenge, and studies run for years. Castor is rated #1 for ePRO user friendliness (ISR 2023), achieves 92% compliance in cognitively impaired populations, and delivers 190+ validated instruments natively in the EDC with no integration overhead.
Deploying validated cognitive and functional assessments traditionally requires 12 to 16 weeks of CRO setup and custom configuration. Most EDC platforms require a build for every instrument, adding weeks to a deployment that cannot afford the delay. Castor ships with 190+ validated instruments natively, so studies can go live in days rather than months.
Standard ePRO tools were not designed for patients with cognitive impairment. Castor delivers 92% compliance in these populations, with the #1 app rating in ISR 2023 and a 40% reduction in intra-patient variability. Offline mode, SMS and WhatsApp reminders, and consumer-grade UX are built in, not add-ons.
CNS studies often require assessments multiple times per day, creating heavy site burden. Rater training and inter-rater reliability requirements add operational overhead that scales with protocol complexity. Castor’s unified EDC and eCOA reduces coordination friction by keeping all data in one system, one database, in real time.
CNS trials frequently run 2 to 5 years. Keeping patients and caregivers engaged with an ePRO platform for that duration requires consumer-grade design. Castor supports automated reminders, offline mode, and caregiver and ObsRO workflows that maintain engagement over the long arc of a study.
Neurology and CNS research places uniquely high demands on both the platform and the patient. Validated cognitive and functional assessment instruments must be administered precisely, at exactly the right intervals, in validated formats, and the patients completing them may have the very cognitive or motor impairments that the trial is studying. Standard ePRO tools were not built for this population. Standard EDC platforms were not built for 190+ instruments out of the box.
From cognitive assessment deployment to LAR eConsent and caregiver workflows, Castor is built for the operational realities that make CNS trials hard.
ISR 2023 ranked Castor #1 for ePRO user friendliness among all evaluated vendors and in the top 3 for the most performance categories overall. In cognitively impaired populations specifically, Castor achieves 92% ePRO compliance with a 40% reduction in intra-patient variability. The Castor Connect patient app supports offline mode with automatic sync, SMS and WhatsApp reminders, and 24/7 multilingual patient support in 15 to 20 languages. These are the tools that keep CNS patients engaged when assessments must happen consistently over years, not months. Explore Castor’s eCOA solutions built for patient-reported outcomes.
Source: ISR 2023 ePRO vendor benchmark
Castor’s platform ships with 190+ validated cognitive and functional assessment instruments natively, with no integration with a third-party eCOA vendor, no CRO setup delay, and no per-instrument licensing burden. Studies using Castor can deploy assessments in days rather than the 12 to 16 weeks traditional approaches require. This directly addresses one of the most common operational bottlenecks in CNS trial setup. The electronic data capture system and eCOA are one system, one database, with no reconciliation required.
Castor unifies EDC and eCOA on a single validated system. No API integration between separate vendor platforms. No data reconciliation between EDC and eCOA databases. No additional validation burden when two systems need to communicate. Site staff enter data once, in one place. The neurologist’s rater score and the patient’s ePRO entry appear in the same record, in real time. These are the clinical trial solutions that remove the coordination overhead that makes CNS trial operations expensive.
CNS studies commonly require proxy respondents for patients who cannot self-report consistently. Castor’s platform supports Clinician-Reported (ClinRO), Patient-Reported (PRO), Caregiver-Administered (CaO), and Observer-Reported (ObsRO) outcomes in the same study without platform changes. A caregiver’s email address is associated directly with the participant record, and specific survey packages are routed automatically to the caregiver rather than the patient via the Automation Engine. All data flows to the same study database with no transfer or reconciliation step.
Source: Castor Help Center, Survey Automation
Castor’s eConsent module supports Legally Authorized Representative (LAR) workflows for patients who lose or regain decision-making capacity during a long study. Dedicated LAR signature blocks on the ICF, automated tracking of the full LAR audit trail (LAR invited, accepted or denied, signed), and reconsent workflows when capacity fluctuates are all managed natively in Castor. No separate consent vendor required. Designed for the compliance complexity of Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other cognitively impairing conditions. All consent events are time-stamped and immutable in the audit trail, meeting FDA and EMA documentation standards.
Full regulatory compliance across all jurisdictions: FDA 21 CFR Part 11, ICH E6(R2/R3), EU Annex 11, GDPR, HIPAA, and ISO 27001. The Castor platform is available in 80+ languages with 24/7 multilingual patient support in 15 to 20 languages. Data residency options are available for studies with national data sovereignty requirements. Castor operates across 160+ countries on a single platform instance, with no per-country software builds or separate regional instances. 830 million+ data points captured on the platform with greater than 99.9% historic mean uptime. For decentralized clinical trials in CNS, this global infrastructure is the foundation that enables patients to participate from home without sacrificing data integrity. For biotech clinical trials running first-in-human CNS programs, Castor’s validated compliance posture removes the regulatory risk that often delays trial start.
CNS and neurology clinical trials supported on Castor, including a leading European research hospital running a 14,000+ patient stroke registry, plus studies in Parkinson’s, MS, epilepsy, and psychiatric indications across 160+ countries. Source: Castor verified platform data, 2026
Independent Software Research (ISR) 2023 ranked Castor #1 for ePRO user friendliness among all evaluated vendors, and in the top 3 for the most performance categories overall. The ISR survey is the independent benchmark used by clinical operations teams globally to evaluate ePRO platforms for CNS and neurology studies.
Cross-TA reference demonstrating Castor’s platform reliability at global scale. For CNS and neurology studies requiring multi-site coordination across 160+ countries, Castor’s proven infrastructure handles the data volume, uptime requirements, and regulatory complexity. Castor’s track record for real-world evidence generation at population scale is backed by 830 million+ data points captured and greater than 99.9% historic mean uptime.
ePRO compliance in cognitively impaired populations
ISR 2023 | Castor platform data
Yes. Castor provides 190+ validated instruments natively within the EDC platform, available without third-party integration or CRO configuration overhead. Studies can deploy assessments in days rather than the 12 to 16 weeks legacy approaches require. Specific scale titles are not named here pending Product/Science and Legal clearance. Use “190+ validated instruments” in all published copy until clearance is confirmed.
ISR 2023 data shows 92% ePRO compliance in cognitively impaired populations using Castor’s platform, with a 40% reduction in intra-patient variability compared to previous ePRO tools. Castor was rated #1 for user friendliness and ranked in the top 3 for the most performance categories in the ISR 2023 ePRO benchmark.
Yes. Castor supports all four outcome types in a single study without additional platform configuration: Clinician-Reported (ClinRO), Patient-Reported (PRO), Caregiver-Administered (CaO), and Observer-Reported (ObsRO). Caregiver and observer workflows are managed natively through the Automation Engine. All data flows to the same study database in real time, giving sites and sponsors a single unified view of every endpoint from day one.
Castor’s eConsent module supports Legally Authorized Representative (LAR) workflows for patients who lose or regain decision-making capacity during a study. All consent status changes are captured in an immutable audit trail. Reconsent workflows are configured for patients whose capacity fluctuates over the course of long CNS studies. All of this runs within the same platform as the EDC and ePRO, with no separate consent vendor required.
Yes. Castor’s ePRO application includes offline mode with automatic sync when connectivity is restored. This is designed for CNS patient populations who may have inconsistent internet access due to geography, age, or cognitive impairment. Reminders are delivered via SMS and WhatsApp in up to 20 languages, and 24/7 multilingual patient support is available throughout the study.
Castor is compliant with FDA 21 CFR Part 11, ICH E6(R2) and E6(R3), EU Annex 11, GDPR, HIPAA, and ISO 27001. The platform is available in 80+ languages with 24/7 multilingual patient support. Data residency options are available for studies with national data sovereignty requirements. Castor operates across 160+ countries on a single platform instance with greater than 99.9% historic mean uptime.