Describing all the regulations, guidelines and directives that affect medical device studies.

An essential introduction to conducting the various stages of medical device clinical trials Clinical research continues to be one of the most vital components of pharmaceutical, biostatistical, and medical studies. Design, Execution, and Management of Medical Device Clinical Trials provides a uniform methodology for conducting and managing clinical trials. Written in a style that is accessible to readers from diverse educational and professional backgrounds, this book provides an in-depth and broad overview for successfully performing clinical tasks and activities. Throughout the book, practical examples compiled from both the author's and other researchers' previous clinical trial experiences are discussed in a sequential manner as they occur in the study, starting from the development of the clinical protocol and the selection of clinical sites and ending with the completion of the final clinical study report. Next, readers are guided through the development of important clinical documents, including informed consent forms, case report forms, and study logs. A careful review of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) regulations applicable to medical devices is also featured. Additional coverage includes: Qualification and selection of investigators Study monitoring visits Definitions and reporting procedures for adverse events The use of biostatistical methodology in clinical research, including the use of biostatistics for sample size determination and study endpoints The roles and responsibilities of all members of a clinical research team The book concludes with an insightful discussion of special ethical conduct for human research and challenging issues to consider during the design of clinical studies. A glossary lists important clinical and statistical terms used in clinical research, and an extensive reference section provides additional resources for the most up-to-date literature on the topic. Design, Execution, and Management of Medical Device Clinical Trials is an excellent book for clinical research or epidemiology courses at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels. It is also an indispensable reference for clinical research associates, clinical managers, clinical scientists, biostatisticians, pharmacologists, and any professional working in the field of clinical research who would like to better understand clinical research practices.

Clinical trials tasks and activities are widely diverse and require certain skill sets to both plan and execute. This book provides professionals in the field of clinical research with valuable information on the challenging issues of the design, execution, and management of clinical trials, and how to resolve these issues effectively. It discusses key obstacles such as challenges to patient recruitment, investigator and study site selection, and dealing with compliance issues. Through practical examples, professionals working with medical device clinical trials will discover the appropriate steps to take.

An ideal health care system relies on efficiently generating timely, accurate evidence to deliver on its promise of diminishing the divide between clinical practice and research. There are growing indications, however, that the current health care system and the clinical research that guides medical decisions in the United States falls far short of this vision. The process of generating medical evidence through clinical trials in the United States is expensive and lengthy, includes a number of regulatory hurdles, and is based on a limited infrastructure. The link between clinical research and medical progress is also frequently misunderstood or unsupported by both patients and providers. The focus of clinical research changes as diseases emerge and new treatments create cures for old conditions. As diseases evolve, the ultimate goal remains to speed new and improved medical treatments to patients throughout the world. To keep pace with rapidly changing health care demands, clinical research resources need to be organized and on hand to address the numerous health care questions that continually emerge. Improving the overall capacity of the clinical research enterprise will depend on ensuring that there is an adequate infrastructure in place to support the investigators who conduct research, the patients with real diseases who volunteer to participate in experimental research, and the institutions that organize and carry out the trials. To address these issues and better understand the current state of clinical research in the United States, the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and Translation held a 2-day workshop entitled Transforming Clinical Research in the United States. The workshop, summarized in this volume, laid the foundation for a broader initiative of the Forum addressing different aspects of clinical research. Future Forum plans include further examining regulatory, administrative, and structural barriers to the effective conduct of clinical research; developing a vision for a stable, continuously funded clinical research infrastructure in the United States; and considering strategies and collaborative activities to facilitate more robust public engagement in the clinical research enterprise.

This User’s Guide is intended to support the design, implementation, analysis, interpretation, and quality evaluation of registries created to increase understanding of patient outcomes. For the purposes of this guide, a patient registry is an organized system that uses observational study methods to collect uniform data (clinical and other) to evaluate specified outcomes for a population defined by a particular disease, condition, or exposure, and that serves one or more predetermined scientific, clinical, or policy purposes. A registry database is a file (or files) derived from the registry. Although registries can serve many purposes, this guide focuses on registries created for one or more of the following purposes: to describe the natural history of disease, to determine clinical effectiveness or cost-effectiveness of health care products and services, to measure or monitor safety and harm, and/or to measure quality of care. Registries are classified according to how their populations are defined. For example, product registries include patients who have been exposed to biopharmaceutical products or medical devices. Health services registries consist of patients who have had a common procedure, clinical encounter, or hospitalization. Disease or condition registries are defined by patients having the same diagnosis, such as cystic fibrosis or heart failure. The User’s Guide was created by researchers affiliated with AHRQ’s Effective Health Care Program, particularly those who participated in AHRQ’s DEcIDE (Developing Evidence to Inform Decisions About Effectiveness) program. Chapters were subject to multiple internal and external independent reviews.

Data sharing can accelerate new discoveries by avoiding duplicative trials, stimulating new ideas for research, and enabling the maximal scientific knowledge and benefits to be gained from the efforts of clinical trial participants and investigators. At the same time, sharing clinical trial data presents risks, burdens, and challenges. These include the need to protect the privacy and honor the consent of clinical trial participants; safeguard the legitimate economic interests of sponsors; and guard against invalid secondary analyses, which could undermine trust in clinical trials or otherwise harm public health. Sharing Clinical Trial Data presents activities and strategies for the responsible sharing of clinical trial data. With the goal of increasing scientific knowledge to lead to better therapies for patients, this book identifies guiding principles and makes recommendations to maximize the benefits and minimize risks. This report offers guidance on the types of clinical trial data available at different points in the process, the points in the process at which each type of data should be shared, methods for sharing data, what groups should have access to data, and future knowledge and infrastructure needs. Responsible sharing of clinical trial data will allow other investigators to replicate published findings and carry out additional analyses, strengthen the evidence base for regulatory and clinical decisions, and increase the scientific knowledge gained from investments by the funders of clinical trials. The recommendations of Sharing Clinical Trial Data will be useful both now and well into the future as improved sharing of data leads to a stronger evidence base for treatment. This book will be of interest to stakeholders across the spectrum of research-from funders, to researchers, to journals, to physicians, and ultimately, to patients.