Week 2 - Good Clinical Practice Flashcards
What are clinical studies required for? Give a specific example of a type of study and its use
- Determine the safety and effectiveness of health and medical product
- Randomised controlled clinical trials address scientific and health care questions, which has assisted our knowledge concerning the safety and efficacy of specific products.
- Randomised controlled trials form the basis for evidence-based medicine.
When can randomised controlled clinical trials be considered credible?
What is the term for this? Give an overview
- Only credible if it is conducted according to the fundamental principles known as “Good Clinical Research Practice” (GCP).
- GCP is an international set of ethical and quality standards that applies to clinical trials involving the participation of human subjects.
- GCP compliance provides the general public and the health authorities, with assurance of the integrity and the validity of the data produced in clinical trial experiments.
What are the GCP standards intented for?
Give an exception
- Intended to produce data for marketing authorisation procedures, which can be for new pharmaceutical/ medicinal products or can be an extended form of research for marketed products already established.
- A general exception is academic research using established marketed products, with no intention to produce data for marketing authorisation purposes.
Briefly outline the history of GCP
- In the late 1960s, the WHO created a Scientific Group on Principles for Clinical Evaluation of Drugs.
- The Scientific Group was responsible for assessing regulations for clinical evaluation of drug products, for both new and old marketed drugs, including considerations for new dosage forms, concerning marketed products.
- Another WHO Scientific Group formed in 1975, to address all aspects of the evaluation and testing of drugs and to create standard guidelines for clinical research
- These reports form the foundation for WHO’s ‘Guidelines for good clinical practice (GCP)’ concerning trials on pharmaceutical drugs, which was published in 1995. Following this, several international guidelines were convened.
What does research conducted according to the GCP guidelines ensure?
- Research conducted in compliance with GCP helps ensure the integrity and welfare of the human research participants were upheld and the results produced from the research are valid and accurate.
Define the following GCP terms:
Sponsor
Investigator
Monitoring
SOP
- Sponsor: A person, company, or institution, who are accountable for the management and/ or financing of a clinical trial
- Investigator: person who is accountable for the conduct of the clinical trial. Principal investigator is appointed if multiple investigators are involved at the trial site.
- Monitoring: The act of supervising a clinical trial to ensure that it is carried out in accordance to the study plan, standard operating procedures (SOPs), GCP and regulatory requirements.
- SOP: set of written detailed instructions to attain consistency in the performance, of a given task
Define the GCP term “audit”
- An independent assessment of all trial associated documents and activities in order to identify if the trial was conducted, recorded, and evaluated according to the study plan, GCP regulations and SOPs. The audit procedure is independent of the monitoring procedure.
Describe a Clinical Trial Protocol
- Clinical trials must be described in a succinct, detailed protocol.
- Often the sponsor and the clinical investigators design the study protocol.
- Factors that need to be considered when designing the protocl include: statistical methodology, confounding variables, risk factors, control groups, and study design.
- need to abide to any national regulations concerning the design and conduct of the clinical trial.
Who, in a clinical trial, needs to adhere to SOPs?
- All people supervising clinical research such as the sponsors, contract research organisations, clinical investigators, Independent Ethics Committees (IECs) / institutional review Boards (IRBs), should adhere to SOPs
Who should prepare SOPs for clinical trails and who should they prepare them for?
- Project sponsors should prepare SOPs for:
- Creating and adapting the protocol and other documentations such as case report forms (CRFs).
- Supplies, shipping, handling of the trial product.
- Regulating trial activities to ensure that the data is accurately generated.
- Ensuring that processes are routinely followed and that experimental activities are recorded.
- Auditing to establish whether processes are conducted effectively and the systems for quality control are functioning.
With regards the regulation of clinical trials, what SOPs should be developed? What should it contain?
- Regulators of the clinical trial are recommended to develop standard procedures concerning the activities relating to the regulation of clinical research.
- This document may include safety reports, GCP inspections and sanctions specific to the individuals who defy the national regulations.
Describe the support systems and tools for a clinical trail, what they are for & what they include.
- Suitable support systems and equipment assist the performance of the study and the collection of the experimental data.
- Support systems and tools include, checklists, specification sheets, drug accountability records and trial-related credentials.
Who is responsible for managing the accessibility to support systems and tools? Give some examples
- The sponsor is accountable for managing the accessibility of support systems and tools. For example, the sponsor may consider acquiring:
- Diagnostic equipment
- Computer software
- Software validation systems
- Communication equipment
- Training equipment
What are trial related credentials? What is their purpose and what may they include?
- Developing trial-related documentations serve to assist the progress of the study, including the collection and reporting of the experimental data and analysis of the results
- Trial-related documentation may include:
- Consent documents
- Checklists
- Documentation concerning the supplier of the investigational compound, the amount given to the participants, disposal instructions of any unused product
- CRFs
- Safety documents
- Expenses and funding documents
Describe how personnel and trail sites are assigned to clinical trails
- Clinical trials require qualified and experienced investigators to conduct the study. Sponsors are required to allocate suitable clinical investigators who have the required expertise.
Describe the ethics committee review of a clinical trail
- According to GCP, clinical studies must be appraised and be given approval from IEC/ IRB before recruiting participants.
- Usually, the investigator is accountable for obtaining IEC/ IRB approval of the study protocol, which is subsequently given to the sponsor.
Describe how clinical trials are assessed by regulatory authorities
- According to GCP, clinical studies are obliged to undergo assessment by regulatory aunthorites for the experimental use of the investigational compound in human subjects and to ensure that the study has been effectively designed to address the main objectives of the study, with compliance to the national regulations.
- The sponsor is usually responsible for ensuring that the relevant regulatory authorities review and approve the design of the study.
Describe the process of enrollment of participants into a clinical trial
- The clinical investigator is responsible for the recruitment of the participants for the study.
- They have the responsibility of ensuring that only eligible participants are enrolled in the study and obtaining relevant documentations e.g. the consent forms.
Describe the “investigational product” with regards a clinical trial and who is responsible fr regulating access to the investigational compound
- Quality of the investigational compound is guaranteed by compliance with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and by managing the product according to the manufacturing specifications and the study protocol.
- in accordance to GCP, sponsors regulate access permitted to the investigational compound.
- GCP also requires that the clinical investigators mange the receipt, administration and disposal of the investigational product.
Describe “trial data attainment” with regards clinical trials
- Clinical research must be conducted in conferring to the approved protocol and regulatory obligations.
- Documenting each trial-related activity enables clinical verification that the study have been performed in compliance with the protocol.
Describe “safety management” with regards clinical trials
- The clinical investigator is accountable for informing the sponsor and the IEC/IRB to contrary events, observed during the course of the study.
- The sponsor has the responsibility for reporting the safety of the study to regulatory authorities and other investigational organisations.
- In some circumstances, the Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) may be assigned by the sponsor to aid overall safety management.
Describe the monitoring of a clinical trial
- In order to assure that a high quality trial experiments are being performed, sponsors may perform set monitoring tasks, which can be done directly or via a contract research organisation (CRO).
- Depending on the type of study conducted, the sponsor dictates the extent and type of monitoring needed.
Describe how trial data is supervised
- Managing clinical trial data effectively ensures that the data sets are complete, reliable and processed in an appropriate manner, which ensures that the integrity and quality of the data is preserved.
- Sponsor is ensures that suitable data management systems are in place.
- Sponsor and the investigator are both accountable for implementing data management systems, thereby ensuring that the integrity of trial data is preserved.
With regards supervising trial data, what should the data management system address?
- Should address the following:
- Data attainment
- Confidentiality
- Completion of CRFs
- Safety data reporting
- Data processing
- Electronic data storage
- Supervision of vendors
Describe the Quality Assurance (QA) aspect of clinical trials
- QA certifies that existing quality control systems are working effectively by using systematic and independent audits.
- Sponsors are also liable for developing quality systems and conducting quality assurance audits.
Describe how the results of a clinical trial are reported
- The results generated by each controlled experiment, using the investigational compound, are described in the clinical study report.
- The sponsor is also responsible for the preparation of clinical study reports.
What should the clinical trial report include?
- These reports generally include:
- The rationale of the study
- Ethical aspects of the study
- Administrative structure of the study (e.g. the expertise of the investigators)
- Study design
- Protocol amendments
- Protocol violations
- Suitability of the human participants
- Safety evaluation
- A discussion
- References
WHO Principles of GCP: Principle 1
What is Principle 1? Where did it originate from?
- Clinical trials involving human subjects must be scientifically comprehensive and performed in accordance with the fundamental ethical principles.
- These principles originated from the Worlds Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki.
- There are three main ethical principles of equal importance: “…respect for persons, beneficence and justice”.
WHO Principles of GCP: Principle 1
How is it applied?
- Applied through:
- Design and authorisation of the protocol
- Consent
- Scientific and ethical review
- Risk assessment
- Selection of human participants
- Compliance with national and international regulation
WHO Principles of GCP: Principle 1
What does “respect for persons” mean regarding GCP - What are the ethical components?
- According to the International Ethical Guidelines this term has two ethical components:
- (1) that the participants should be treated as impartial subjects
- (2) that participants with diminished autonomy are entitled to protection.
WHO Principles of GCP: Principle 1
What does “respect for persons” mean regarding GCP -what does this term take into account and how should be treated as “intrinsically vulnerable”?
- Takes into account that the participants have a right to choose what will happen to them.
- All participants, irrespective of the health, should be regarded as “intrinsically vulnerable”.
WHO Principles of GCP: Principle 1
What does “respect for persons” mean regarding GCP - when should additional safeguards be considered and what do these safeguards include?
How is “respect for persons” applied?
- Additional safeguards for participants are considered to be mentally, physically, economically, or educationally disadvantaged.
- Depending on the degree of vulnerability, these safeguarding’s may include: obtaining permission from a legal guardian, incorporating an impartial witness to be present and or additional monitoring in the clinical study.
- Applied through the process of informed consent.
WHO Principles of GCP: Principle 1
What does the term beneficence mean in compliance to GCP?
What does the term “justice” mean in compliance to GCP?
- Refers to the ethical duty to obtain maximum benefit and to prevent non-maleficence (prevent harm).
- Beneficence is linked to the GCP requirement that clinical research is acceptable based on “favourable risk/benefit assessment”.
- According to GCP, the principle of “beneficence” is mainly applied through risk/benefit assessments during the study design.
- Jusrice refers to moral obligations, in terms of unbiased procedures and in the recruitment of participants
WHO Principles of GCP: Principle 2
What is principle 2?
- Clinical research involving participation from human subject must be logically defensible and explained in a succinct protocol.
WHO Principles of GCP: Principle 2
What does principle 2 mean? How is it implemented? What does the protocol state?
- Implemented through the development of a protocol that is justifiable and ethically comprehensive.
- The protocol identifies the objective of the study, the experimental design, methodology, and usually described the rationale for the biomedical research.
- The clinical research must also be ethically justified by its capacity of generating scientifically reliable results.
WHO Principles of GCP: Principle 2
How can experimental bias be minimised in a clinical study?
- Bias in a clinical trial can distort the credibility of the results.
- Impartiality/ bias can be minimised in clinical research designing well-controlled studies, implementing randonisation and using a “blinding/ masking procedure”.
WHO Principles of GCP: Principle 2
Describe in more detail how principle 2 is implemented
- Sponsors are mainly responsible for designing the experiments and generating the protocol for the study. In some cases, investigators mat contribute to the design of the protocol.
- IECs/IRBs have a duty to carry out an ethical review of the study protocol. By comparison, regulators are responsible for permitting the clinical research to proceed with their protocol, in agreement with the national and international laws and regulations.
WHO Principles of GCP: principle 2
Explain how using “well-controlled studies”, randomisation and blinding/ masking procedures can minimise bias in a clinical study.
- This type of design ensures that comparisons between the experimental group and a suitable control group can be made which enables the investigator to distinguish the effect that the investigational compound may have on the experimental group and identify potential “placebo” effects.
- Where applicable, a randomised assignment of participants to treatment or control groups is the preferred method of selection in clinical studies. This is because randomisation serves to reduce partiality in the research.
- Blinding/ masking is a procedure, which aims to keep selected parties uninformed of the treatment groups. “single blinding” generally refers to the participants being unaware or it can be “double blinding”, which generally refers to the participants, investigators, and/ or the data analyst being unaware of the treatment groups.
WHO Principles of GCP: Principle 3
What does principle 2 state?
- States that before clinical research begins, anticipatable risks and benefits for the research must be acknowledged.
WHO Principles of GCP: Principle 3
According to the Declaration of Helsinki how are the purposes of clinical trials justified?
- Clinical experiments should be based on the results of non-clinical studies and the knowledge of the history of the investigational compound and the clinical conditions, will help justify the purpose of the experiment.
- Identifying the potential risks and benefits of the clinical study ensures that systematic and comprehensive information of the study is obtained before the experiments begin.
WHO Principles of GCP: Principle 3
How is principle 3 implemented?
Implemented through:
- Thorough knowledge of the scientific literature concerning the investigational compound and procedures that will be used.
- Developing the study protocol.
WHO Principles of GCP: Principle 3
What does the term “risk” mean in compliance with GCP?
- Refers to the likelihood that harm may occur.
- The expressions “small risk” and “high risk” are commonly used, which refer to the probability and severity of experiencing harm.
WHO Principles of GCP: Principle 3
What does the term benefit mean in complaince to GCP?
- In the clinical research industry, this term refers to a positive result that may advance health or welfare.
WHO Principles of GCP: Principle 3
How are the risks and benefits established prior to the clinical study?
- Establishing the risks and benefits is addressed in the scientific review that supplements protocol development. An important aspect of a scientific review is the evaluation of relevant published and unpublished data.
WHO Principles of GCP: Principle 3
Who is responsible for implementing this principle?
- Sponsor
- IECs/ IRBs
- Investigators
- Regulators
WHO Principles of GCP: Principle 3
How is the sponsor responsible for implementing this principle?
- Responsible for conducting a literature review to ensure that adequate information is available to support the reasoning behind carrying out the clinical trial.
- There must be sufficient safety and efficacy data to support using human participants. This information can be summarised in the investigator’s brochure.