Cutting ‘Red Tape’ May Shorten Time to Begin Cancer Trials
Quintiles Transnational Corp. today announced that it has adopted “common contract language” and will be using the standardized contract clauses developed by the CEO Roundtable on Cancer, a nonprofit group of cancer-fighting CEOs, of which Quintiles is a member. The adoption of the common contract language has the potential to significantly reduce contract negotiation time, which currently takes a median of 172 days (nearly 6 months) and as much as a year.
“Data clearly demonstrate that the time it takes to get to a final clinical trial agreement is rate-limiting and often the cause of significant delays in the development of experimental drugs,” said Oren Cohen, M.D., Quintiles’ Chief Medical and Scientific Officer and member of the CEO Roundtable Life Sciences Consortium (LSC). “We are hopeful that streamlining the process to begin a cancer trial will shorten the time it takes to get critically-needed therapies to the patients who need them.”
Quintiles, the only contract research organization (CRO) represented, was a significant contributor to the 14-month project which was led by the CEO Roundtable on Cancer’s LSC, a task force of CEO Roundtable members in the oncology pharmaceutical/biotechnology industries in conjunction with the National Cancer Institute. The group hopes to shorten the drug testing process by making available “common language” for clinical trial contracts through a set of standardized contract clauses for use by NCI-designated cancer centers and the pharmaceutical industry. Click here for more information on the complete report and related documents.
The work included 17 legal and/or business representatives from CEO Roundtable on Cancer LSC companies and 26 representatives from NCI-designated Cancer Centers. This unique, collaborative effort was prompted in part by research demonstrating that the clinical trial contract negotiation phase included numerous opportunities to save precious time.
LSC, led by Dr. Gregory A. Curt, worked to craft “common language” for clinical trial contracts, noting that in the best case, the median time to open a cancer trial is 172 days.
Quintiles is committed to combating cancer and has been involved with the CEO Roundtable on Cancer for several years. Quintiles achieved accreditation status from the Roundtable on Cancer in January 2007 and joined the ranks of a handful of “best in class” companies led by CEOs who have made a profound commitment to the health of their employees and families.
About the CEO Roundtable on Cancer
The CEO Roundtable on Cancer was founded in 2001, when former President George H.W. Bush challenged a group of executives to “do something bold and venturesome about cancer within your own corporate families.” The CEOs responded with the CEO Cancer Gold Standard, a workplace accreditation program that calls for companies to evaluate their benefits and culture and take extensive, concrete actions in five key areas of health and wellness to fight cancer in the workplace. The CEO Roundtable on Cancer has since collaborated with the National Cancer Institute and other cancer fighting entities to find collaborative and innovative ways to eliminate cancer as a public health threat. For more information on the non-profit CEO Roundtable on Cancer and documents related to “common language” for clinical trial contracts, visit: www.CEORoundtableOnCancer.org.
About Quintiles
Quintiles Transnational Corp.is powering the next generation of healthcare by providing a broad range of professional services in drug development, strategic partnering and commercialization for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. With more than 22,000 employees and offices in more than 50 countries, it is focused on providing customer-centric solutions that are the gold standard of the industry. For more information, please visit the company’s Web site at www.quintiles.com.
Contacts:
Quintiles Transnational Corp.
Mari Mansfield, Media Relations
919-998-2639,
media.info@quintiles.com