A Simple Change Delivers Faster Study Start-Up

Life science industry reports indicate that the early stages of study start-up take twice as long today as they did five years ago. The primary reason may be that, as trials have grown in complexity, so too have data collection activities related to site identification, feasibility ranking, and site selection, as well as the masses of paperwork related to IRB and ethics committee approvals.

Yet the processes used to gather, organize, and share all this information are largely unchanged. In a recent survey, fewer than a quarter of operations teams report using site portals—and more than 81% admit to still using spreadsheets to plot their start-up process.

It’s time for a change—and the industry seems ready.