Key Trends in Oncology Clinical Trials: The 2021 AACI CRI Meeting
The AACI Clinical Research Innovation Meeting always provides exciting insights for teams who run oncology clinical trials. Whether you’re thinking about how to use remote monitoring, how to recruit diverse participants, or how to accelerate your study start-up time, the Association of American Cancer Institutes has answers.
Not able to attend the conference or still trying to sort through your notes? We assembled this list of key takeaways from the panels at AACI to help you evaluate your processes, recruit diverse patients, and maintain compliance.
Here’s what you need to know to keep up with oncology clinical trials in 2021:
1. Cancer centers must evaluate which technology to hold onto post-pandemic.
During the pandemic, many sites adopted technology because they had to. Now that patients can visit research sites in person again, sites are looking for software that actually does what it promises and makes clinical trials more efficient.
One of the most popular tech trends at AACI was remote monitoring. When monitors can view regulatory documents and verify source data online, they don’t have to travel to research sites nearly as often. Additionally, remote monitoring gave coordinating centers, sponsors, and CROs the ability to track their sites’ progress and identify compliance issues early.
Cancer centers also expect to continue using eConsent. Though letting patients fill out informed consent documents on their phones or computers was a necessity during COVID, it was also convenient. With eConsent, patients don’t have to travel to the research center just to sign paperwork, and research professionals don’t have to track down patients to obtain signatures.
Check out our Moving Beyond COVID webinars with experts from research sites and sponsors/CROs to learn more about what technology features research leaders plan to hold onto.
2. Clinical trial professionals appreciate the opportunity to work or train remotely.
The pandemic revealed that clinical research professionals don’t always need to be at the cancer center to maintain documents or transfer data. Many panelists at AACI CRI appreciated the chance to work remotely at least some of the time, and flexible work policies allow cancer centers to hire the best staff from anywhere in the U.S.
The clinical research leaders at AACI also talked about how they’ve made remote work effective. Cancer centers need secure software and competent leadership to ensure clinical research staff can store, share, and log data remotely. They also need to find or create remote training programs for their new team members.
3. Oncology clinical trial sites are thinking about integrations.
Clinical research sites need to connect multiple forms of software: electronic medical records, electronic Investigator Site Files, electronic Trial Master Files, and electronic source documents. However, some clinical research software can’t integrate or can only integrate with programs from the same vendor.
In particular, AACI attendees brought up that some software programs don’t integrate well with Cognizant’s Shared Investigator Platform (SIP). Technology vendors who create seamless, native integrations—especially SIP integrations—can give oncology clinical trial sites a much better experience.
4. Compliance and quality assurance are constantly evolving.
Clinical research staff in the U.S. are experts in following FDA regulations. However, the regulations sometimes leave space for interpretation, especially when it comes to remaining compliant while using remote technology.
The experts at AACI CRI devoted a panel to best practices for risk-based monitoring, remote monitoring, and carrying out audits. The message for oncology clinical trial sites was clear: if they plan to engage in remote monitoring, they’ll need to invest in software that’s compliant with FDA Title 21 CFR Part 11.
This means finding software that includes audit trials, protects data integrity and personal health information (PHI), and has a validation process to ensure it’s functioning as intended. Software vendors and cancer centers will also need to work together to develop Standard Operating Procedures for the software at each center.
5. Cancer centers want to expand their outreach and serve diverse patients.
The cancer center leaders at the AACI CRI Meeting want to expand their recruitment areas so underserved patients can get involved in trials. All of the panelists agreed that oncology clinical trials need participants of diverse races, genders, and ages. We talked to Leslie Byatt of New Mexico Cancer Care Alliance about this issue on our podcast.
Since many cancer centers are located in major cities, their leaders believe in the potential of establishing satellite sites in rural areas or underserved communities. These satellite sites may be able to connect with patients who can’t travel to the main cancer center or aren’t aware of the clinical trials taking place there.
Additionally, remote technology makes it possible for patients to engage in clinical trials from local clinics, pharmacies, and their homes. This tech allows patients who have strict work hours, rely on public transportation, or live far away from the cancer center to participate in clinical trials.
What Oncology Clinical Trial Sites Can Take Away from AACI CRI 2021
The AACI CRI Meeting this year dove deeply into how cancer centers can use the latest clinical trial software to enable remote work and reach diverse patients. The panelists at the conference also discussed how they’re embracing technology without sacrificing compliance or being overwhelmed by multiple programs and integrations.
All of these trends will shape how oncology clinical trial sites work in the future, which is why we will keep diving into them in our Learning Library. Our goal is to take the guesswork out of choosing technology so cancer centers can focus on what they do best: helping patients.
*featured image sourced from this website.