A clinical trial primer: Historical perspective and modern implementation

The structure of modern clinical trials is designed to protect patient safety while generating safety and efficacy data. Safety is the primary concern, and United States regulations are shaped by a series of responses to incidents, including notable safety lapses and unethical trials. These regulations focus on 3 essential components, defined by the 1979 Belmont Report: respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. Further, the international community has formally outlined good clinical practice (GCP), which mandates that trials are designed to produce meaningful data, conform to international ethics regulations, and provide assurances that data are reported in a credible and reliable manner. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and federal government have outlined the necessary components of clinical trials in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). These include institutional review boards (IRBs), standard operating procedures (SOPs), sites, sponsors, investigators, and patients. The investigator is the center of the trial and is required to sign an agreement with the federal government to uphold the CFR. Investigator duties include making sure that investigator and support staff having appropriate qualifications, delegating duties, monitoring the study for compliance and record keeping, providing care, and accepting accountability for the trial, among other duties. Physicians, who already have significant time demands, need a well-trained staff, including clinical coordinators, to adequately meet these duties. Despite these requirements, trials can have significant benefits for investigators, practices, and patients, foremost of which is the ability to provide cutting edge care. However, the clinical trial process requires routine evaluation and continual performance improvement in order to ensure that patients not only receive excellent care, but also do so in the safest possible manner.