Anyone who has been in a position with a traveling job, a.k.a. a “road warrior”, will tell you that it is not easy.  In the world of clinical research, monitor turnover is high, as discussed in this previous blog.

As a monitor working at a clinical research organization (CRO), we partner with sponsors who, many times, have their own internal clinical research associates (CRAs) involved with the same studies.  At the very least, each sponsor has a project manager for that trial.  Both the internal sponsor project manager and/or CRA and the external field CRA at the CRO want to work together to make monitoring the study as efficient and effective as possible.

In an article published last week in MedCity News, the author quoted a survey, stating that clinical trials would get more participants if doctors informed their patients about them.

Most people are familiar with the term placebo effect, in which patients experience beneficial symptoms associated with a specific treatment, even when they are given an ineffectual treatment, or “placebo”.  Recently, this New York Times article discussed the opposite medical phenomena known as the nocebo effect.  The nocebo effect is defined as:

Joining the military in America is, by some, considered the most patriotic duty one can fulfill; a noble and brave decision made by young men and women to protect and fight for our country.

A recent MedCity News article outlined several steps drug and device companies may use to successfully transport their product from the preclinical stage into clinical trials.  The article stressed the importance of communication when attempting to enter a drug or device into the clinical stage of development.  Communication was broken down into several guidelines for companies to follow:

Several weeks ago, I came across a Dateline NBC episode, which was entitled The Hansen Files:  Drug Trials.  The episode focused on clinical drug trials, which were being conducted outside of the United States, particularly in India.  There is a growing trend for companies in the U.S. to outsource recruitment into their clinical trials.