Rise of multi-site trials prompts FDA guidance on IRBs

By Nick Taylor

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Institutional review board Fda

The FDA has issued draft guidance detailing the information that should be submitted to an IRB as part of the continuing review of a clinical trial, with particular emphasis placed on the rise of multi-site studies.

Regulations for institutional review boards (IRB) were first issued by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1981 when most trials were conducted at a single site.

Since then multi-site trials, conducted around the world, have become commonplace. To ensure it is relevant to modern-day clinical trials the FDA has issued new guidance on continuing review for IRBs, clinical investigators and sponsors​.

For multi-site studies the FDA recommends that sponsors provide IRBs directly with information from the whole study, data monitoring committee (DMC) reports and other information relevant to continuing review.

The FDA places these responsibilities with the sponsor because of their “unique position of having information across all study sites, interim assessments by DMCs and safety information​”.

Submissions for continuing review can be made to an IRB other than the one that conducted the initial review. However, the FDA advises that the IRB which performed the initial review may be best placed to conduct later evaluations because of its familiarity with the trial.

When reviewing multi-site trials a centralised (CIRB) review process can be adopted. This is applicable to trials which have different IRBs assigned to some of the sites.

By cooperating in this manner the FDA believes IRBs can reduce or eliminate duplication of tasks and improve the consistency of the continuing review process.

The guidance also gives a list of information it recommends IRBs should request from sponsors. Much of this is often included in the annual reports prepared by study sponsors and in these cases a separate document does not have to be prepared.

Related news

Show more

Related products

show more

Using Define-XML to build more efficient studies

Using Define-XML to build more efficient studies

Content provided by Formedix | 14-Nov-2023 | White Paper

It is commonly thought that Define-XML is simply a dataset descriptor: a way to document what datasets look like, including the names and labels of datasets...

Overcoming rapid growth challenges with process liquid preparation

Overcoming rapid growth challenges with process liquid preparation

Content provided by Thermo Fisher Scientific - Process Liquid Preparation Services | 01-Nov-2023 | Case Study

A growing contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) was challenged with the need to quickly expand their process liquid and buffer preparation...

Related suppliers

Follow us

Products

View more

Webinars