Onsite Monitoring Needed After Remote Monitoring? FDA Updates COVID-19 Clinical Trial Guidance

9/02/2021

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The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released an updated guidance, “Conduct of Clinical Trials of Medical Products During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency”. As clinical research professionals navigate the long haul new normal, many are wondering if the remote monitoring that occurred during the pandemic shutdowns was adequate to meet regulatory requirements. The FDA continued to update the guidance as new questions arose. The new question added to the Questions and Answers section of the guidance is:

DIGR-ACT® Critical Thinking Focuses on Addressing the Right Issue or Risk at the Right Level – Part 4

8/31/2021

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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.

Public Meeting with the FDA: PDUFA Reauthorization

08/24/2021

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The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is holding a public meeting to discuss recommendations for the reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA). Stakeholders are invited to discuss their opinions on recommended enhancements for the next reauthorization. PDUFA began in 1992 and must be reauthorized every five years.

Sponsor-Investigators Frequently Cited in FDA Warning Letters. Do You Know What Is Required for a High Quality Trial?

8/17/2021

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What are investigator initiated trials, and are they truly initiated by investigators, or by industry sponsors? Investigators may have an idea for a clinical trial with an investigational or approved product. Such trials can help answer important questions about medical products and devices. When investigators initiate the clinical trial, they also must fill the role of a sponsor. A sponsor-investigator conducted clinical trial is also known as an investigator initiated trial. From the regulatory side, there is not a lot of guidance on such trials, but there is a focus on them for inspections. The sponsor-investigator is ultimately responsible for the regulations that are applicable for sponsors AND investigators. Do you know which regulations and guidelines are applicable and that they have different definitions?

DIGR-ACT® Critical Thinking Focuses on Addressing the Right Issue or Risk at the Right Level – Part 3

8/10/2021

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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. As you think through the process steps, you realize you had written on the other side of the list and had forgotten to take a look at the store.

Going step-by-step through the process led you to a possible cause that you could investigate further. This is why ‘Go step-by-step’ is part of the DIGR-ACT® solution - the 3rd step.