Psoriasis is a dermatological disorder that is often paired with underlying systemic disease and multiple comorbidities. While a common condition, its wide range of severity and causes, along with several clinical subtypes, make it challenging to treat. Global Impact of Psoriasis The World Health Organization estimates at least 100 million individuals globally live with psoriasis,...
Neurodegenerative disorders present some of the biggest challenges in planning and conducting clinical drug trials. Identifying strategies to proactively address or mitigate these challenges can help to ensure a successful trial. Since the first drugs for neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) were approved in the 1990s, an increasing number of disease- modifying therapies have been approved for...
The effects of rigorous patient advocacy are easily seen today throughout the pharmaceutical industry. Patients who suffer the debilitating effects of rare diseases are banding together to be heard in an attempt to have their conditions studied to further the development of treatments and cures. However, the influence of patient advocacy groups has not always...
DURHAM, N.C., March 27, 2017 — Two Premier Research drug development experts will speak at the Drug Information Association’s EuroMeeting 2017, March 29-31 in Glasgow: Dr. Thomas Laage, Senior Medical Director, will take part in a session on optimizing development of pediatric medicines on Thursday, March 30, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Dr. Laage...
Translational research has the potential to help all patients, but the principles behind bench-to-bedside research hold special promise for patients with rare diseases — many of which have no standard treatments. Here’s how changes to the way rare oncology studies are performed are getting treatments to the patients who need them at a faster rate. What Makes...
In December 2016, the United States passed an important piece of regulatory legislation called the 21st Century Cures Act. These FDA regulations cover multiple types of clinical research but include some specific provisions for medical device development. In contrast to the regulatory reform seen in the EU — which includes a much-needed increased emphasis on...
Good clinical practice (GCP) guidelines govern important aspects of clinical trials to ensure patient safety and scientific integrity. “GCP” is a quality standard which refers to the document put forth by the International Council on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH). The ICH is a group made up of regulatory officials...
In general, greater certainty about the clinical benefit of a drug correlates with an increased time to achieve needed results — the best evidence can take years of careful follow-up. But an unnecessarily long time to market isn’t good for sponsors and patients alike. This is especially true for patients battling rare cancers: With many of these conditions lacking standard treatments,...
While adaptive design is associated with many potential benefits, it may also present challenges to observing the basic ethical principles of research in human subjects. In this white paper, we review the features of particular clinical trial design adaptations and discuss the ethical obstacles they can present and those they can potentially resolve. The value...
Traditional trials apply a frequentist strategy, which rely on the accuracy of pre-defined design assumptions (or inputs) to construct an effective design that yields robust final trial results. From first-patient-in to last- patient-out, trial execution proceeds without change, following a black box approach. While this strategy is common in clinical research, it is not well suited to...