At the beginning of a study, there are a number of steps sponsors and CROs must take to ensure compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation. In this blogpost, we focus on four GDPR articles that are relevant to study start-up. Article 131 As the data controller, the sponsor must provide a privacy notice...
As medical device regulations evolve and global, multi-center studies become increasingly common, a growing number of sponsors are turning to independent committees such as Data Monitoring Committees (DMCs) or Clinical Endpoint Committees (CECs) for assistance with clinical trial oversight. However, given that neither the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) nor the European Medicines Agency...
Months before Britons voted narrowly to leave the European Union (EU) in June 2016, then-U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron called a vote to withdraw from “the gamble of the century” and warned of dire political and economic repercussions. More than two-and-a-half years later, Cameron’s warning sounds more prescient than ever. Countless unanswered questions confront British...
Since it took effect May 25, 2018, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation has been reshaping the way data is handled across every industry sector, including clinical research. The objective of the GDPR is to strengthen and standardize the protection of personal data across the EU, including ex-EU data that is processed within the...
Since 2002, doctors and researchers have used a standard rosacea classification system to provide consistent terminology as well as to facilitate studies, clinical diagnosis, and treatment. However, in 2018, the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology published a new standard classification system that replaces the previous one[1]. Below is some of the most important...
Of all the truisms that apply to clinical drug research, probably none is more universally accepted than this one: “There’s no substitute for experience.” But if you’re working in an indication that is not widely studied, selecting sites on the basis of experience can be difficult. That’s one of many subjects we addressed in a...
Researchers have made many attempts at disease modification as they pursue breakthroughs in treating Parkinson’s disease, but so far without success. Why have these efforts failed, and what’s next in treating this degenerative disorder that affects an estimated 10 million people worldwide? We tackled these questions in a Premier Research webcast, The Potential for Disease...
Rosacea is a common condition occurring on the convexities of the face and affecting middle-aged persons. It may be caused or worsened by a variety of different factors, including genetics; problems with the blood vessels in the face, the nervous system, and/or the immune system; the presence of Demodex mites; and environmental factors. It is...
We were conducting a trial for a painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN) drug and were investigating why one site had an especially high placebo response rate. Then one of our representatives, waiting in the site’s lobby to meet with the principal investigator, pinpointed the likely reason when a patient walked in the door. “Mrs. Jones,” the...
Among common degenerative disorders, Parkinson’s disease strikes more frequently than all but one: Alzheimer’s. Parkinson’s affects about 1 percent of the population over age 60 and claims 60,000 new diagnoses in the United States each year.[1] The cause of Parkinson’s remains a mystery, and the dopamine promoter levodopa — notwithstanding its limitations — has been...