San Francisco-based goBalto, a developer of new generation web-based clinical research solutions, is providing a research grant for the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development to benchmark the clinical trial initiation process. Currently there is virtually no industry data available on the typical process that companies follow and on the amount of time that this process takes.

Tufts CSDD, an independent, non-profit academic research group at Tufts University in Boston, routinely conducts benchmark studies of critical drug development functions and activities. For this study, 15 international biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and CROs will provide data on their experiences initiating clinical trials.

“This study will map the steps and duration of the clinical trial initiation process," said Ken Getz, senior research fellow at Tufts CSDD, principal investigator on the project, and owner of CenterWatch. "We anticipate identifying critical insights that sponsors and CROs can use to accelerate their study start-up times and drive higher levels of efficiency and effectiveness in the process."