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In March, 2025, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) released a “Reflection paper on use of real-world data (RWD) in non-interventional studies (NIS) to generate real-world evidence (RWE) for regulatory purposes” as a guidance for stakeholders on quality planning, conduct and analysis of NISs that intend to use RWD to generate RWE.
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In November 2024, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning letter to the sponsor as a result of a BioResearch Monitoring Program (BIMO) inspection which observed objectionable conditions. The warning letter cited two violations of the Title 21 CFR.
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In December 2024, following the release of the 2024 revision of the Declaration of Helsinki (DoH), US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) staff shared the FDA’s perspective on what their role was in the development of the 2024 DoH and how it may impact FDA procedures. The DoH is intended to guide clinical research involving human participants that is often used as the foundation for other guidelines such as the International Council for Harmonisation (ICH) Good Clinical Practice (GCP).
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In October 2024, the World Medical Association (WMA) announced the adoption of the 2024 revision of the Declaration of Helsinki (DoH) during the 75th WMA General Assembly in Helsinki, Finland, the same location where the Declaration was initially adopted 60 years prior.
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On September 27, 2024, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning letter to an Institutional Review Board (IRB) as a result of a (BIMO) inspection from July of 2023. BIMO inspections evaluate compliance with of FDA regulatory requirements, in this case, title 21 CFR Parts 50, protection of human subject, and 56, Intuitional Review Boards.
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On May 6th, 2024 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) released a Request for Information regarding their recently developed draft: Glossary of Terms and Definitions. Innovations in the design and conduct of clinical trials, such as incorporating real-world data to generate real-world evidence, has led novel terms being used to describe these innovations.
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On April 29th, 2024 the US Food and Drug administration (FDA) posted a news release outlining an upcoming virtual listening session June 13th, 2024 from 9:00am–4:00pm ET, on the optimal use of and processes for FDA advisory committees (Ad Com). FDA Ad Coms are intended to provide the agency with advice and recommendations from the public as well as external experts from various backgrounds. They review the safety, effectiveness, and appropriate use of products in FDA regulated research by discussing scientific, technical, and policy issues and voting on proposed future actions.
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On April 15th, 2024 the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the establishment of the CDER Center for Clinical Trial Innovation (C3TI). Clinical trial design and conduct must be held to rigorous standards and policies in order to safeguard the well-being of trial participants and the public. These standards and policies are outlined within the ICH E8(R1) Guideline: General Considerations for Clinical Studies.
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On March 21, 2024 the Centre for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning letter to the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI) institutional review board (IRB). The FDA’s inspection resulted in six major observations, all of which occurred during convened IRB meetings.
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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.
