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Informed Consent Forms (ICF) for clinical trials are required to communicate the essential details of a trial to prospective participants including the procedures, the risks of using the investigational product (IP) or device, and actions the participant would be expected to take during the trial (i.e., filling out questionaries, coming in for routine visits, etc.). As clinical trials continue to evolve and become increasingly complex, ICFs must accurately explain these complexities as they can lead to confusion for the intended audience.
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The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published guidance on “Use of Data Monitoring Committees in Clinical Trials” in February 2024 which, once finalized, will take precedent over the FDA’s previous guide on the subject from 2006. The guidance clarifies data monitoring committees’ (DMC) relevance and importance in clinical trial oversight, and how to determine when utilizing a DMC is practical for certain clinical trials.
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On October 20, 2023, the FDA issued an investigator warning letter to Maria W. Greenwald, M.D.. The inspection was part of the FDA's Bioresearch Monitoring Program, aimed at assessing research conduct to safeguard the rights, safety, and well-being of human subjects. The investigation was conducted for several clinical studies, and there were multiple instances where the site failed to comply with investigational plans.
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On September 18, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a draft guidance titled Demonstrating Substantial Evidence of Effectiveness Based on One Adequate and Well-Controlled Clinical Investigation and Confirmatory Evidence to provide further detail on the accepted types of confirmatory evidence used to support the results of one adequate and well-controlled clinical investigation.
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On September 6, 2023 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a bulletin announcing three new draft guidances regarding the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health’s (CDRH) 510(k) premarket submission program to verify that the medical device to be marketed is substantially equivalent to a legally marketed device as medical devices continue to become more complex and innovative.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a draft guidance for best practices for clinical trials in July 2023. It outlines key scientific and ethical considerations for “good controlled” (also known as well-controlled) trials, guidance on strengthening the clinical trial ecosystem, and addressing underrepresented populations.
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that the ICH E6(R3) Good Clinical Practice draft guidance is available for comments. This draft includes the GCP Principles and Annex 1, and the ICH Working Group is updating Annex 2.
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The US Food and Drug Administration allows charging for investigational drugs that are under an investigational new drug application (IND) in certain circumstances. The “charging regulation” (21 CFR 312.8) which came into effect in October 2009, describes what costs are recoverable and circumstances where charging is permitted.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a draft guidance “Patient-Focused Drug Development: Selecting, Developing, or Modifying Fit-for-Purpose Clinical Outcome Assessments” June 2022. The focus of the draft guidance is on selecting, modifying, developing, and validating clinical outcome assessments (COA), such as patient reported outcome (PRO), that are meaningful to patients, with an emphasis on methods to ensure high quality measures are utilized.
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released “Guidance on How the HIPAA Rules Permit Covered Health Care Providers and Health Plans to Use Remote Communication Technologies for Audio-Only Telehealth” in June 2022, called “guidance on HIPAA and audio only telehealth” for clarity and brevity in this blog. This guidance clarifies how covered entities can provide audio only telehealth while complying with HIPAA Rules to protect the privacy and security of the participants or patients’ protected health information (PHI).