The Clinical App: How Digital Trials Are Reshaping Health Research

SYDNEY, Australia – December 15, 2025 – On the surface, it looks like one of the many digital aids designed to help people quit smoking. It has goal-setting features, progress trackers, and a community forum. But beneath this familiar user interface lies a sophisticated scientific instrument, a 'digital trial engine' poised to change how public health interventions are measured and understood. This is Screen2Quit, the bespoke mobile application at the heart of one of Australia's most ambitious medical studies, the International Lung Screen Trial (ILST).

Developed by digital product studio Miroma Project Factory (MPF), the app represents a pivotal shift in medical research, moving clinical trials out of the controlled confines of a lab and into the messy, dynamic reality of daily life. By transforming a consumer health app into a clinical-grade data collection tool, this project aims to answer a critical question: can digital interventions demonstrably and significantly help people quit smoking, the world's leading cause of preventable disease?

From Public App to Precision Research Tool

The foundation for Screen2Quit is 'My QuitBuddy,' a popular and well-regarded app from the Australian Department of Health that has been downloaded over a quarter of a million times. With features designed to motivate users, manage cravings, and provide community support, My QuitBuddy has been a successful public health tool, with some evaluations suggesting significant long-term quit rates for its users.

However, for the rigorous demands of a multi-year Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT), a consumer-facing app is not enough. A pilot RCT of My QuitBuddy with older participants highlighted a crucial gap: while engagement was tracked, the study concluded that future trials needed real-time 'backend' data to truly understand how users interacted with the app and which features correlated with success. Without this granular data, it was difficult to move beyond correlation to establish causation.

This is the precise challenge that Screen2Quit was engineered to solve. Commissioned by the University of Queensland's Thoracic Research Centre and developed with Queensland Health, MPF was tasked with redeveloping My QuitBuddy not just as an intervention, but as a research platform. The goal was to create a version that could be deployed within the NHMRC-funded ILST, a massive study involving 4,500 participants aimed at optimizing lung cancer screening protocols. For current smokers within this cohort, Screen2Quit becomes a critical tool for both cessation support and invaluable data generation.

The 'Digital Trial Engine': Engineering for Evidence

What elevates Screen2Quit to a 'clinical-grade' application is the purpose-built engine running behind the scenes. Miroma Project Factory's work went far beyond a simple user interface refresh. The project involved native iOS and Android development and the creation of two distinct, secure backends: one to manage community forum moderation and another bespoke administration portal designed specifically for capturing trial analytics.

Every participant in the trial is registered with a unique, anonymized ID. This ID acts as a key, gating access to the app and linking every in-app action to the participant's clinical outcome data without ever compromising their identity. This 'digital trial engine' tracks a wealth of behavioral data points—from the initial setup of a quit plan and the frequency of checking money saved, to the time spent reading community posts and the specific distractions used during a craving. Every scroll, tap, and entry is logged.

"We're proud to help deliver a real-world health intervention that's not only scalable, but scientifically robust," said Jennifer Wilson, Founder and Futurist at MPF. "Screen2Quit takes behaviour change out of the lab and into people's lives—with real data to back it."

This granular, anonymized data allows researchers at the University of Queensland to conduct a level of analysis previously impossible at this scale. They can now investigate which digital behaviors are most closely linked to successful quitting. Is it consistent engagement with the community forum? Frequent goal-checking? Or is it a combination of features used at critical moments? The answers will provide an evidence-based roadmap for designing more effective digital health interventions in the future.

A New Blueprint for Public-Private Health Innovation

The Screen2Quit project stands as a powerful example of a new model for health innovation, built on a strategic collaboration between specialized technology firms, academic research institutions, and government health bodies. The University of Queensland's Thoracic Research Centre provides the clinical and research leadership, Queensland Health offers the public health framework and access, and Miroma Project Factory delivers the complex technological solution required to bind it all together.

This tripartite partnership demonstrates a path forward for tackling complex public health challenges. While academia provides the scientific rigor and government provides the mandate, specialized studios like MPF act as the crucial translational partner, turning research protocols into functional, secure, and scalable digital products. MPF's continued involvement through a multi-year maintenance agreement ensures the platform's integrity and stability for the duration of the trial, a critical component for long-term research.

This collaborative approach is essential in a field as sensitive as digital health. The project operates within Australia's stringent regulatory framework, governed by the Privacy Act and the ethical guidelines set by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). The app's architecture, with its emphasis on fully anonymized data capture and secure infrastructure, was designed from the ground up to meet these exacting standards, ensuring that cutting-edge research does not come at the cost of individual privacy.

Navigating the Digital Health Frontier

The market for digital therapeutics is booming, projected to reach over $11 billion by 2033. For smoking cessation alone, thousands of apps are available. Yet, the evidence for their effectiveness remains inconsistent. Many apps lack scientific backing, and even those with good intentions suffer from high user dropout rates and an inability to prove their long-term impact. This 'wild west' environment has created a pressing need for scientifically validated solutions.

The Screen2Quit trial directly addresses this industry-wide challenge. By embedding a robust research methodology into the app itself, the project is designed to generate the high-quality evidence needed to distinguish effective interventions from digital placebos. Its findings could influence everything from public health policy and clinical guidelines to the design of the next generation of health apps.

If this large-scale trial demonstrates that a well-designed, data-driven app can significantly outperform other interventions, it will not only validate this specific approach but also provide a new gold standard for the entire digital health sector. It proves that with the right partnership and technical expertise, it is possible to create tools that are both engaging for users and powerful enough for rigorous scientific inquiry, ultimately bridging the gap between digital innovation and measurable real-world impact.