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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a draft guidance “Enhancing the Diversity of Clinical Trial Populations - Eligibility Criteria, Enrollment Practices, and Trial Designs”. It is the position of the FDA to enroll subjects who are the target audience for the investigational product once approved. Certain populations are underrepresented in clinical trials, even though they are part of the target audience. The draft guidance outlines methods the sponsor can use to support more diverse enrollment that more accurately reflects the target population, in accordance with requirements in the FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017 (FDARA).
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What does ‘A’ stand for?
Don't waste time on root cause analysis, at least not if you won’t use the results! Proper root cause analysis takes effort and resources, and you need to use the output to determine actions to try to stop the issue recurring. This is the ‘A’ step of the DIGR-ACT® solution. Having dug into the issue, you now need to ‘Act’ on what you found.
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Clinical trials have become increasingly complex since the ICH E8 guideline on “General Considerations for Clinical Trials” was finalized in 1997. The draft revision is in Step 2b and available for public comment, and there are some interesting changes to note. Specifically, there is a greater emphasis on patient centricity, design of trials with quality in mind, and risk management. The overlying theme is fit-for-purpose quality as an essential consideration for study design. The revision is part of the Good Clinical Practice (GCP) Renovation initiative. Previously, the ICH E6 GCP R2 addendum was finalized in 2016.
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What does ‘R’ stand for?
We're all in a rush, and we want to fix issues quickly. But often, by assuming too much, we might reach the wrong conclusion. The cause that we used root cause analysis tools to discover is actually incorrect. Once we have the (wrong) cause(s), we may rush off and take action to fix it. But if it's the wrong cause, it is wasted effort and you rushed - only to go slow. Like if your taxi doesn't show, you might decide never to use that company again because they are unreliable - when the real problem was that you gave them the wrong pick-up address.
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Did you miss the free live webinar on “Critical Thinking and Clinical Research – A Better Way”? Some key highlights of the training were:
What is critical thinking? To learn more about the seven critical thinking skills and how they relate to clinical research, sign up to view the recorded webinar here. DIGR-ACT® was built to support all of these.
Root Cause Analysis: There are many tools to find root cause, but they often lead down the wrong path, yielding inconsistent and ineffective results. For example, asking 5 Whys can result in different root cause depending on how the questions are asked, and what about other relevant questions such as who, what, where, when, and how?
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What does ‘A’ stand for?
Don't waste time on root cause analysis, at least not if you won’t use the results! Proper root cause analysis takes effort and resources, and you need to use the output to determine actions to try to stop the issue recurring. This is the ‘A’ step of the DIGR-ACT® solution. Having dug into the issue, you now need to ‘Act’ on what you found.
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What does ‘R’ stand for?
We're all in a rush, and we want to fix issues quickly. But often, by assuming too much, we might reach the wrong conclusion. The cause that we used root cause analysis tools to discover is actually incorrect. Once we have the (wrong) cause(s), we may rush off and take action to fix it. But if it's the wrong cause, it is wasted effort and you rushed - only to go slow. Like if your taxi doesn't show, you might decide never to use that company again because they are unreliable - when the real problem was that you gave them the wrong pick-up address.
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Many people automatically think about drugs when they visualize clinical trials, especially if that has been their experience. Medical devices are essential for human health and it is important to understand how they are distinct from drugs. Although there are similarities, there are quite a few differences between medical device and drug or biologic clinical trials, including:
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What does ‘G’ stand for?
W. Edwards Deming said, "If you can't describe what you're doing as a process, you don't know what you're doing!" Many people don't naturally think of work as a process, but thinking of it that way can help you uncover what might be an earlier cause of something going wrong. Maybe your normal process for grocery shopping is to write a shopping list and take it with you to the grocery store to make sure you get all the items. But today, you get home and realize you are missing several items you needed.
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Topic: New FDA Draft Guidance – A Risk-Based Approach to Monitoring of Clinical Investigations
Date: May 14, 2019
Time: 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. EDT
Duration: 60 minutes
Sponsored by: Life Science Training Institute
Webinar: Live interactive session. Recording will be available for 30 days.
Sign up here.