Reforming the Oversight of Multi-Site Clinical Research: A Review of Two Possible Solutions
Titel:
Reforming the Oversight of Multi-Site Clinical Research: A Review of Two Possible Solutions
Auteur:
Nowak, Kristin S. Bankert, Elizabeth A. Nelson, Robert M.
Verschenen in:
Accountability in research
Paginering:
Jaargang 13 (2006) nr. 1 pagina's 11-24
Jaar:
2006-04
Inhoud:
The current system for the ethical oversight of clinical research suffers from structural, procedural, and performance assessment problems. Initially conceived primarily to handle local investigator-initiated single-site studies, the system of institutionally-based committee review has become progressively more inefficient given the increased prevalence of commercially or federally sponsored multi-center trials. To date, proposed solutions do not adequately address these problems. Beginning with a review of these structural, procedural, and performance assessment problems, this article will then consider two proposals for addressing these deficiencies: (a) regional ethics organizations; and (b) IRBNetâ„¢, a newly developed web-based program for cooperative IRB review. The strengths and weaknesses of these two approaches will be evaluated in light of recent experience with centralized review. The proposal to establish a system of regional ethics organizations presents a comprehensive approach to many of the problems faced by the current system. However, IRBNetâ„¢ offers an immediate and feasible solution to many of the problems faced by the review of multi-site clinical studies.