Trend Longevity Rating
matured and remains highly relevant, even where the details changed
How this trend held up
Decentralized and patient-centered clinical trials became mainstream, accelerated further by pandemic-era necessity and formalized in FDA guidance on decentralized trials in the 2020s; real-world evidence generated outside traditional trial settings is now formally used in the FDA approval process. But PatientsLikeMe, the book's central example of patient-led research, lost its independence in 2019 when the Trump administration forced a sale away from its Chinese investor, landing the platform inside UnitedHealth Group — one of the country's largest traditional insurers, and an odd ending for a company built on the promise of patients bypassing institutional gatekeepers. The movement succeeded; its flagship symbol was absorbed by the establishment it was founded to challenge.
Every past trend prediction is re-reviewed and graded with a Trend Longevity Rating, measuring how much each originally curated trend still matters years later.
