Using An IRB's Site Relationships To Relieve "Site Crunch" And Reduce Trial Pressures

By Sandra Smith, RN, MSN, AOCN, Senior Vice President, Clinical Solutions & Strategic Partnerships, WCG and Tim Schuckman, Chief Commercial Officer, Ethical Review Division, WCG

Today’s clinical research landscape is growing, but pressures on clinical trial sites are growing faster. While the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in many clinical trials being halted during 2020, there was still a 15.4% increase in new trial initiations between Q4 2019 and Q4 2021. When comparing figures year over year, that increase was even larger at 17.6%. Oncology trials had the biggest growth rate at about 23% year over year.¹