• 2021 Participant Engagement Award Finalists Announced

    Clinical Research News | Finalists have been named for the 2021 Participant Engagement Award, the industry’s premier effort to highlight creative work in clinical research that helps better engage and understand research participants. Winners will be announced the first week of March at SCOPE, the Summit for Clinical Ops Executives.

    Feb 17, 2021

  • With a Pandemic Push, DCTs Are a ‘Virtual’ Lock to Go Big in ‘21

    Clinical Research News | One of the bright spots in 2020 is the growth of Decentralized Clinical Trials (DCTs). DCTs are virtual trials that integrate remote assessments with modern digital health technologies, including remote rating apps, wearable monitoring devices, and online social engagement platforms into study design and execution. They were already growing in popularity prior to COVID-19, thanks to regulatory acceptance, trends in clinical practice and the operational/cost efficiencies, but the ongoing global pandemic has accelerated the implementation of DCTs, bringing us to a tipping point.

    Feb 17, 2021

  • The FDA’s Playbook For Accelerating COVID-19 Vaccine Development

    Clinical Research News | At the recent COVID-19 and Cancer virtual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, the role of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in expediting the development and deployment of a vaccine was the topic of a keynote address by Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). His talk focused heavily on a pair of guidance documents issued by the agency last year, including one in October specific to requests for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for COVID-19 vaccines.

    Feb 16, 2021

  • Breastmilk Contains SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies, Lung Ultrasound Stratifies Patients, Updated Practice Points for Remdesivir: COVID-19 Updates

    Clinical Research News | Several promising COVID-19 treatments, majority of Los Angeles healthcare workers not confident about vaccine, patients with dementia at increased risk, pregnancy and vaccination, and AI model predicts risk of death. Plus: old drugs may be repurposed to treat COVID-19, NIH enrolling participants for Phase III clinical trial, New Yorkers more likely to take vaccine than before.

    Feb 12, 2021

  • A Deep Dive On mRNA Vaccines

    Clinical Research News | Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines were the focus of a symposium on COVID-19 vaccines held during last week’s COVID-19 and Cancer virtual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. To date, only two vaccines have received Emergency Use Authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and both are mRNA vaccines—one developed by Moderna and the other by Pfizer and BioNTech.

    Feb 11, 2021

  • How Renewed Focus On Customer Experience Can Change The Health Data Landscape In 2021

    Clinical Research News | In 2020, many companies started prioritizing UX for the first time. And the challenge they are facing includes how to stay agile and make continuous improvements within a remote workforce. This acutely applies to the fields of health data science and software development, where clarity, ease of use, and security are paramount. An improved digital experience informed by an agile approach is one such way that developers can create significant value and deliver on expectations in 2021.

    Feb 10, 2021

  • Inspire Plays Pivotal Role In Search For Super-Genes

    Clinical Research News | The pilot project of a new HealthJourney program being developed by healthcare social network Inspire is all-virtual recruitment for a clinical research study being conducted in partnership with Pfizer, the Manton Center for Orphan Disease Research at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH), and Citizen Genetics. The study is endeavoring to identify people in families with a history of autoimmune disease who carry “super-genes,” variants that make them resilient to lung cancer progression

    Feb 9, 2021

  • COVID-19 And Cancer: An Unsettling Pairing

    Clinical Research News | The pandemic has had potentially far-reaching effects on the treatment of cancer patients and conduct of oncology clinical trials, according to panelists presenting at last week’s COVID-19 and Cancer virtual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. While the medical community seems to favor extending “interim” policies related to telehealth and study enrollment, it also worries about the unintended consequences of institutional safety precautions—notably, delays in patients getting needed care.

    Feb 8, 2021