Event categories: HRB-TMRN

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of clinical trial activity took place face to face. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a significant shift towards trial delivery without in person face to face contact or “Remote Trial Delivery”. The National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) assembled a Remote Trial Delivery Working Group to consider challenges and enablers to this major change in clinical trial delivery and to provide a toolkit for researchers to support the transition to remote delivery. The toolkit comprises a website encompassing the key principles of Remote Trial Delivery, and a repository of best practice examples and questions to guide research teams. While born out of necessity, the use of remote trial delivery has opened new pathways for research. The development of RTD Guidance must run alongside and support the NIHRs agenda of inclusivity and flexibility within trial delivery, with the overall patient experience at the core.

HRB-TMRN: Health Research Board - Trials Methodology Research Network

Designing a clinical trial is a challenging multidisciplinary endeavour, and we frequently draw upon the experience of our colleagues in statistics, pharmacology, and clinical medicine to ensure a study is robust. But as a field are we missing the opportunity to engage with those who have the most to offer - namely, those who could potentially participate in our trial? When a trial is failing to hit enrollment targets, or to retain participants in data collection activities we may be quick to go out to participants to gather their feedback and find out how we might improve, but in truth this is probably too late. A well designed trial for a problem that patients don't consider important is never going to succeed, and conversely a trial of critical importance is not going to succeed if taking part is impossible, particularly for those most disadvantaged by their illness and by structural barriers in society. Increasingly funders, regulators, and sponsors are calling for increased patient involvement before, during, and after a trial is completed, but how does this work in practice? In this webinar you'll hear perspectives from two experienced practitioners in the field of digital health and decentralized trials across a range of therapeutic areas.

HRB-TMRN: Health Research Board - Trials Methodology Research Network

Conflicts of interest, such as industry funding or financial ties of investigators, are common in drug trials. Such conflicts may influence how clinical trials are designed, conducted, analysed, and reported.