Apologies that this is appearing a few weeks late, because of the illness through much of December, leading up to the Christmas break. December’s issue of CRfocus (vol. 19 no. 11) was published on December 8th 2008, and included the following articles. Members of The Institute of Clinical Research are able to click through these links to read the full text of the articles.
Future of Clinical Research
Compiled by Andrew Smith
A regular feature of the end of the year in Clinical Research focus is our ‘crystal ball’ article, in which ‘movers and shakers’ and other key observers look into the future to tell us what they expect, or hope, to see changing over the coming years.
Feature
Tanya Palmer MICR
In our business- and technically-focused work environments, we often fail to take into account the impact of culture, either through oversight or simply due to a lack of training. This forum aimed to give us the tools to put this right, and Tanya reports…
Helen Glenny HonFICR Csci
Helen Glenny reports from November’s meeting of the ICR Freelance Forum, which discussed tax status, GCP and FDA inspections, pharmacovigilance and a regulatory update
Sue Matthews MICR
The ICR Trainer’s Forum showed excellent attendance, with 85 enthusiastic participants turning up on October 8th, to listen and discuss as well as participate in a workshop on investigator site training within clinical research. Clearly, this was a subject of interest and importance with representatives from pharmaceutical companies, CROs, NHS and academia attending.
Frances Sanders RICR & Rosalyn Forsey RICR
The second Innovative Medicines SIG forum of 2008 addressed the topic of stem cell research and its potential for use in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. The meeting provided an excellent insight into the fascinating and complex world of stem cells.
Andrew Smith
The “Partnerships in Clinical Trials” took place in Berlin on November 5th and 6th, to discuss issues related to the globalisation and outsourcing of clinical research. This report presents highlights of some of the sessions, based on live coverage of the meeting on the CRfocus blog.
People
Andrew Smith interviews Neelam Patel, Clinical Operations Manager at Lilly UK. They discuss her unique career path, innovation in the way Lilly is conducting clinical research, the challenges of resourcing studies and the evolving role of the CRA.
Professional development
Reviewed by Samantha Hamilton
Reviewed by Joy Dummer MICR, Jessica Giles & Lynda Golightly RICR
Linda Powell & Greg Holt
There is no shortage of examples illustrating creative methods of attracting and retaining skilled staff in today’s challenging marketplace. As candidates are required to ‘hit the ground running’, competition between companies is fierce to entice experienced clinical research professionals. Linda and Greg discuss…
Regular update
Susan Ollier MICR
Susan Ollier discusses who benefits from ICR’s existence, and suggests that it’s not just us, the members. In improving the conduct of clinical research, we are delivering public benefit, and perhaps we are too reticent about communicating this.