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Blog Post
Key Questions for the Effective Implementation of eCOAs in your Clinical Trial
With the industry-wide push towards patient-centricity, electronic clinical outcome assessments (eCOAs) have become a more widely used strategy to streamline patient data collection, provide real-time access to data for review and monitoring, enhance patient engagement, and improve the integrity and accuracy of clinical studies. Rho answers some commonly asked questions about eCOAs.
Blog Post
The Sunsetting of Rare Pediatric Disease Designation
As with other incentive programs, FDA created the Rare Pediatric Disease (RPD) designation to encourage drug development in products with questionable financial viability; in this case, the treatment of certain rare pediatric diseases. One of the main benefits of RPD designation is the potential to receive priority review vouchers, which can be used to obtain priority review on a subsequent human drug or biologic application, should the product with RPD designation be approved.
Blog Post
Considerations When Starting a Vaccine Study
For over 10 years, Rho has worked in vaccine research and is currently 1 of 5 contract research organizations in the BARDA Medical Countermeasures Clinical Studies Network (MCM-CSN) that designs and conducts clinical studies needed to develop drugs, vaccines, and diagnostic tests that help protect public health. Based on our experience, we understand the risks, challenges, and solutions needed to operationalize a vaccine trial.
Blog Post
Drug Shortages During the COVID-19 Pandemic
As the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations increases, another growing threat to the US healthcare system’s ability to respond to the pandemic is emerging: shortages of essential drugs diverted from patients with their primary indications to treat patients infected with COVID-19.
Blog Post
Maintaining Trial Integrity During COVID-19: Some Statistical Rules of Thumb
The COVID-19 pandemic is having a substantial impact on many ongoing clinical studies in all phases of product development. Numerous difficult decisions are being made and steps are actively being taken to ensure the safe execution, or future resumption, of ongoing studies. While patient safety is paramount and should drive all study conduct related decisions, many of these decisions can impact the interpretability of estimates of efficacy at study conclusion.
Blog Post
COVID-19 FDA Response: Site Management and Monitoring
In this post, the focus is on site management and monitoring changes during COVID-19. With a focus on participant safety and trial data quality and integrity, the FDA expectation is that sponsors will identify alternative approaches to on-site monitoring and document these in updates to the Clinical Monitoring Plan.
Blog Post
Programs to Support Drug Development in Infectious Disease: GAIN, QIDP, and LPAD
Generating Antibiotic Incentives Now (GAIN) and the Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) designation and the Limited Population Pathway for Antibacterial and Antifungal Drugs (LPAD), described below, were designed by the FDA to streamline development and encourage investment into targeting infections that lack effective therapies.
Blog Post
Development of COVID-19 Therapies: FDA Pathways
At a high level, there are basically 3 (inter-related) programs that FDA has in place to make drug product available for COVID-19 patients in an expedited manner or under an “emergency” use status for products that are ready to initiate clinical studies, are already undergoing clinical development prior to approval of a new drug application, or are already approved in other indications: CTAP, EUA and Expanded Access.
Blog Post
COVID-19 FDA Response: Guidance on Protocol Amendments and Clinical Study Reports in Affected Ongoing Trials
One of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the conduct of ongoing and planned clinical trials will be the need for protocol modifications to adjust for COVID-19 control measures and COVID-19 illness. The recent FDA Guidance on Conduct of Clinical Trials of Medical Products during the COVID-19 Pandemic offers advice on managing protocol amendments and deviations and documenting changes to the trial.
Blog Post
Changes to Study Visits and Assessments During COVID-19: Subject Safety Considerations
The COVID-19 pandemic has understandably generated a surge of concern among clinical researchers about how best to minimize the risk to study subjects of exposure to COVID-19 while also preserving study integrity and a favorable risk-benefit of study participation for subjects. In general, research principles don’t change because the world is going through a public health crisis, and the principles of Good Clinical Practice, risk-benefit, subject safety, and ethics remain as fundamental priorities of clinical research.