The University of Texas (UT) System www.utsystem.edu recently launched a clinical trials network referred to as “Clinical Trials Xpress” to help ensure that drugs and therapies developed by researchers at UT institutions get to patients faster.
“This is an extraordinary opportunity for UT system researchers and industry partners to accelerate the translation of new pharmaceuticals and treatments into clinical care. It responds to an increasing need in the U.S for collaboration between academia and industry”, said Patricia Hurn Ph.D. UT Systems Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation.
“Clinical Trials Xpress is a novel way for multiple UT institutions to effectively compete for high impact clinical trials by bringing a single institutional review board and common contracting and standardized implementation programs to the table,” said David McPherson MD Chairman, Department of Internal Medicine at UT Health in Houston.
Clinical Trial Xpress is funded by the UT System Board of Regents and created in collaboration with the Texas Regional CTSA Consortium (TRCC), www.utsystem.edu/offices/health-affairs/texas-regional-ctsa-consortium-trcc.
According to the TRCC’s Clinical Trials Network Roadmap, the report states that developing information systems is essential to developing an effective TRCC Clinical Trials Network. The Network must be capable of performing efficient and secure electronic data collection, be able to operate centralized computer operations, and effectively integrate informatics.
Clinical trials need to establish eligibility requirements along with enrollment, randomization operations, provide accurate data entry, assume quality control and monitoring procedures, and communicate between clinical sites, research coordinators, network staff, and be able to track specimens.
Initial partnering institutions include UT Medical Branch at Galveston www.utmb.edu, UTHealth in Houston www.uth.edu, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio www.utscsa.edu, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center www.mdanderson.org, and UT Southwestern Medical Center www.ut.southwestern.edu . As the network develops, additional UT institutions will be included.
A central coordinating office will be located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston and will work closely with each institution’s clinical trials office and other campus offices associated with clinical research.