DIA: Driving Insights to Action

FDA Guidance: Flexibility But No Compromise on Patient Safety

In late March 2020, FDA issued Guidance on conduct of clinical trials of medical products during COVID-19 public health emergency: Guidance for industry investigators and institutional review boards. In the agency statement accompanying its release, FDA Deputy Commissioner for Medical and Scientific Affairs Anand Shah stated, "FDA released this guidance to emphasize that at all times patient safety should continue to be at the forefront of considerations. We want to support the continuance of these clinical trials in compliance with good clinical practice and minimizing risks to trial integrity, while also safeguarding the health and well-being of study participants."

Digital Tools Powering More and Safer Clinical Trials

Even under COVID-19 quarantine, patients wearing remote sensors keep clinical research moving forward digitally. “Now suddenly, very suddenly, we're faced with an intense patient safety issue where we really are risking patients' lives by having them come into these clinical sites,” explains Paul O’Donohoe, Medidata Solutions. "I suspect we're going to see a significant uptake in the acceptability and use of technology as a way of allowing patients to now provide us that data in the safety of their own homes.” Bill Byrom, Signant Health, moderates this podcast with Paul and Jennifer Goldsack, Digital Medicine Society, and serves on the Steering Committee for the August 2020 virtual Digital Technology in Clinical Trials conference co-sponsored by DIA and the ePRO Consortium of the Critical Path Institute.