These comments are provided by a team with representatives from 13 eCF member companies and have been reviewed by the eClinical Forum members. Those on the team are from Sweden, UK, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Italy, United States, and Japan. They represent many hours of personal review/comment as well as 19 hours of team discussion. The larger eCF Membership had opportunity to review and comment as well.  The resulting submitted comments (59 pages) are a consensus of member opinion.

The Society for Clinical Data Management (SCDM) and eClinical Forum (eCF) Joint Task Force are pleased to announce the publication of an industry position paper “AUDIT TRAIL REVIEW: A KEY TOOL TO ENSURE DATA INTEGRITY” final version based on Industry Feedback.  With various electronic data capture modalities becoming the norm and the growing regulatory focus on data collection traceability, audit trails which capture the who, what, when, and why of electronic data entry and amendments are a critical tool.  This paper outlines an industry perspective on maximizing the value of implementing the targeted, routine review of these extremely large datasets. It provides recommendations on risk-based use cases for audit trail review (ATR) and the corresponding desired reporting criteria, with suggestions on when to use visualizations and exception report listings to generate key, actionable insights.

The EUCROF and eClinical Forum Electronic Informed Consent (eConsent) Joint Task Force are pleased to announce the publication of the eConsent Implementation Guide (version 1). The joint task force was formed in 2019 with a view to look at some of the barriers to adoption of eConsent considering the benefits to stakeholders.

eConsent offers remote electronic options for informing and consenting trial participants of a clinical trial, this being a particularly useful capability especially during the pandemic period when site visits are reduced.

The eClinical Forum is happy to announce the public release of a position paper titled “Decentralized TMF Archives and The Decommissioning Of Computerised Systems Used In Clinical Trials”.  This position paper was written by a joint task force from EUCROF and the eClinical Forum, with representatives from other industry associations including ECRIN, the ePRO consortium, Medicines for Europe and the RQA.

ABOUT THE POSITION PAPER: Following the completion of a clinical trial, the essential documents that make up the TMF (Trial Master File) are retained and archived by the sponsor, the investigator and, in some cases, sub-contractors to the sponsor and/or investigator. The position paper highlights 11 key positions: seven positions concerning the archiving of the TMF and four positions concerning the archiving of the electronic data. These positions address areas where regulatory expectations are not always seen as being aligned with industry practices.

eClinical Forum Audit Trail Review Team with SCDM Innovation Committee are pleased to announce the release of their Industry Position Paper.

In clinical research, data integrity is paramount, and the importance of the right policies, procedures, responsibilities, and governance cannot be overstated. With various electronic data capture modalities becoming the norm and the growing regulatory focus on data collection traceability, audit trails which capture the who, what, when, and why of electronic data entry and amendments are a critical tool. This paper outlines an industry perspective on maximizing the value of implementing the targeted, routine review of these extremely large datasets. It provides recommendations on risk-based use cases for audit trail review (ATR) and the corresponding desired reporting criteria, with suggestions on when to use visualizations and exception report listings to generate key, actionable insights. It contains practical implementation guidance, covering the people, processes and technology needed to execute ATRs effectively. The authors also take a deep dive into the technical aspects of what constitutes an audit trail, and how collecting and preparing audit trail data is fundamental to successful ATR capability.

The eCF EDC Hosting Team has released the final White Paper documenting best practices for establishing controls and operational procedures that facilitate compliance with evolving regulatory expectations for Electronic Data Capture in Clinical Trials using Service Providers (e.g. EMA Reflection Paper and ICH GCP Addendum). The eCF has engaged with regulators (including the EMA GCP IWG and FDA) and industry stakeholders in developing the documents.

Abstract

In 2001, a survey was conducted by the eClinical Forum to explore the experience, needs, views and issues of investigational site staff with respect to Electronic Data Capture (EDC).

Companies engaged in commercial clinical research have, since the introduction of formalized good clinical practices (GCP), adopted highly defensive practices around the monitoring of clinical trials.

Submission of comments to the FDA on their Draft Guidance on Standardized Study Data