Firecrest blazes trail for protocol-specific training and site visits
Recently appointed CEO Alan Horgan told Outsourcing-pharma that, as the clinical trials sector evolves “investigators are struggling to come to terms with the complexity of trials and the technology they are being asked to use.”
Such issues, Horgan continued, coupled with the increasing number of multicentre and multinational trials, call for a new approach to site management that was the key motivation for the development of what he believes is the firm’s unique offering.
“Essentially what Firecrest does is deliver protocol specific training to the investigator site staff, enabling the sponsor or the CRO to monitor and track the training of the site staff, reducing the time it takes to undertake initiation visits.”
These training programmes are developed by Firecrest’s in-house team based on the specific study protocol and issued to the investigator sites in around six weeks, which is a quicker turnaround than the current site initiation approach according to Horgan.
The other part of the offering is a protocol-specific visit guide that, Horgan claimed, enables investigators to determine precisely what they need to do at each site on a patient by patient basis in as little as two to three minutes.
Horgan explains the benefits of Firecrest's combined training and visits approach in the audio quote below..
Market demand
Despite officially “launching” at the DIA annual meeting in Washington DC in June, Firecrest already claims it works with seven of the top ten pharmaceutical companies around the world.
However, Horgan believes that recognition that making trials easier for principal investigators can have a dramatic impact on a sites efficacy, coupled with ever-present cost pressures, will increase demand for Firecrest’s solution.
