News By: Emily Norris

At the latest meeting of the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP)-led Partners Advancing the Clinical Research Workforce (PACRW) consortium, the focus for these extraordinary times in human subjects research was on what levers need to be pulled by the consortium’s members to “bend the curve” toward a better future for stakeholders in what is often an under-recognized and under-resourced segment of the larger healthcare workforce. 

As the theme of this year’s ACRP Clinical Trials Day program celebrates, we are collectively powered by purpose; yet, we are often distracted from it as inefficiencies in how we collaborate bog us down in our day-to-day. According to Advarra’s 2024 Site-Sponsor-CRO Collaboration Survey, less than half of sites said their relationship with sponsors is collaborative, and just 31% said they had a collaborative relationship with CROs.

Technology has undeniably contributed to growing chaos at research sites. Seventy percent of sites report using more than six systems per trial, and for the first time, managing these systems is their top challenge. The impact is significant: 52% of sites are struggling to take on new studies, and sponsors are seeing a 45% increase in timelines from protocol approval to first-patient-first-visit. 

Clinical research training for research-naïve staff members can successfully enhance clinical trial–readiness at community cancer centers, according to the findings of a recent collaboration between Roche/Genentech, the Association of Cancer Care Centers (ACCC), and the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP). 

Long-standing concerns over if, when, and how to compensate clinical trial participants for the time and effort they put into studies are akin to a “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” dilemma for many research practitioners.