Nearly 30 percent of CROs’ clinical research monitors in the U.S. left their jobs in 2018, a 4 percentage point jump over previous years, according to a new global workforce survey. Read More
The ability of sponsors and CROs to meet the needs of their sites has improved slightly in recent years, according to a new CenterWatch survey, but sites say they need to see more progress in almost all aspects of their working relationships. Read More
For the first time in 22 years, the International Council on Harmonization (ICH) is almost completely overhauling the guideline ICH E8 — General Considerations for Clinical Studies, the international standard for designing and developing trials. Read More
What does a site need to do to trim its study start-up timeline from several weeks down to just a few days?
Panelists from various site organizations shared their secrets to rapid start-up and other best practices at MAGI’s “Be the Site of Choice” conference in Philadelphia last week.
The number of new trials rose in 2018, but sponsor investment in research and development remained steady, a new survey shows.
Phase 1 through phase 3 trial starts rose 12 percent in 2018 to 7,606, up from 6,794 in 2017, according to an Informa survey. Phase 1 starts totaled 2,900, up 3 percent, while phase 2 fell 4 percent to 2,469. Phase 3 trials held their ground with 1,373, less than a 1 percent increase.
The most pressing compliance problem clinical trials have, data from the FDA show, continues to be following their protocols to the letter.
The agency’s report on inspection findings in fiscal year 2019 places “failure to follow investigational plan” at the top of the list of most frequently cited observations, a spot it has held for the past five years. But the numbers are dropping, from 171 citations in 2015 to 108 in inspections conducted in 2019.
Drawing objective conclusions from subjective measurements is a common challenge in pain management research and one that can lead to skewed results without a system to analyze data, spot problems and evaluate their impact.
But identifying aberrations is not the only challenge, says Arturo Morales, chief technology and data officer for WCG Analgesic Solutions. “It’s very easy to tell that one thing is not like the others. But merely looking at data and saying, ‘This one looks different,’ describes the way people have been approaching monitoring in clinical trials for years.”
Sponsors, CROs and other stakeholders have until September 30 to help shape a critical trial design guideline, according to the FDA’s call for public comment on the revision of ICH E8 last week.
The ICH E8 revision is the latest step in the International Council on Harmonisation’s (ICH) efforts to update trial standards, following the revision of ICH E6 — Good Clinical Practices in 2016.
When the FDA shows up with inspection notice in hand, will you be able to produce the documents they request quickly and efficiently? Knowing where all your records are stored and what condition they are in is vital to inspection success, says one former FDA district director.
As clinical trial administrative tasks become more burdensome and technologies more complex, research professionals are spending more time on the business of trials than on the science. To maximize potential, academic research institutions, hospitals and other large organizations should bring all trial management and finance functions into one centralized operations hub. Read More