New to clinical trials? Or just want to understand how Greenphire supports clinical research? If yes, this article is designed to be a useful resource for you.
Greenphire is passionate about ensuring that both the industry and our employees are educated on current trends in medical development worldwide. If you have additional questions which are not addressed in this article, please email marketing@greenphire.com.
The importance of clinical research
Simply put, without clinical research, there wouldn’t be new medical innovations.
A clinical trial investigates new drugs (or combinations of drugs), devices or vaccines to help improve the quality of life for those living with an illness or to prevent others from contracting a disease.
While there are many kinds of research, the ultimate goal of any trial or research study is to determine if a new approach is safe and effective for people. This is a fundamental mission for the life sciences community around the globe.
Want to learn more about clinical trial the importance of clinical research? View this article from Arena.
Who conducts clinical research?
Clinical studies can originate in a number of ways. They may be sponsored by organizations such as pharmaceutical companies, academic medical centers (or “AMCs”), government entities such as veterans’ organizations, or doctors.
These sponsoring organizations first test new compounds and methods of treatment in laboratories; if they show promise for human benefit, a clinical trial may take place next. In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of drug therapies and devices under development, and trials required to evaluate them.
Clinical studies follow a series of phases (one through four) and take place at a clinical research site. These “sites” can include many locations, including hospitals, universities, doctors’ offices, and community clinics. The location depends on who is conducting the study.
For information on the basics of clinical research, we recommend you visit the NIH website, WHO website or ClinicalTrials.Gov
How does research take place?
While the organizations described above may initiate and conduct a clinical research study, a protocol outlines the study objectives, design and methods for trial execution. You can learn more about clinical trial protocols here.
The sponsoring organization may outsource some or all of the activities associated with the trial conduct to a CRO, or Contract Research Organization. Additionally, many different types of clinical trial technology may be used to collect data, conduct visits and communicate with research sites and participants. The technology provided might be a proprietary solution, or one from a clinical trial solution provider or vendor, such as Greenphire. Vendor selection and management is critical to the successful outcome of a clinical study, and can reflect a commitment to improved patient engagement and site centricity.
The methods by which studies have been executed have shifted in recent years, further leveraging technology. While digitization was already a driving force in healthcare, the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic certainly spurred the use of decentralized trial techniques ahead.
Who participates in clinical research?
Without volunteers, clinical research would not be possible.
Participants in clinical trials donate their time and bodies to scientific exploration, for the betterment of human health.
More specifically, who participates in a clinical trial depends on the therapeutic area and indication being investigated. There are eligibility requirements which may qualify and disqualify participants, and processes to protect participants, including IRB approval to ensure research is ethical and research risks are minimized.
To ensure that new treatments are effective and safe for all populations, it is crucial that research studies are conducted including a broad array of individuals, representing different ages, sex, ethnic backgrounds and more.
While 97% of CISCRP Perceptions & Insights study respondents said that they believe that clinical research studies are important to the discovery and development of new medicines, a fraction participate in clinical trials. Read the full results of the 2021 CISCRP study here.
Who is Greenphire?
Greenphire is a financial technology company focused exclusively on serving the needs of the clinical trial industry. We believe that clinical trial access should not impede trial participation by volunteers, or create administrative burden the research sites who conduct studies. We encourage you to learn more about Greenphire – who we are and what we do.
What is a ClinCard?
Often a clinical trial will offer payment for clinical trial participation. This may come in the form of reimbursement for direct expenses such as parking, meals or mileage. Other times, it may be an unsubstantiated reimbursement for time and effort. These are called stipends. Compensation guidelines are illustrated in the clinical trial protocol and are reviewed by IRBs or Ethics Committees.
ClinCard is the software platform offered by Greenphire to clinical research sites, sponsors and CROs to process these payments. The payment “modality” may vary by global market, and be in the form of a physical debit card, direct deposit or most recently, a virtual card.
You can visit our ClinCard webpage to learn more about this solution.
Additionally, we recommend that you review this brochure on clinical trial costs and reimbursements produced by Greenphire together with CISCRP.
What other services does Greenphire provide?
Greenphire provides end-to-end clinical trial financial automation solutions, including:
- EnvisiX: Clinical trial budget negotiation and fair market value
- eClinicalGPS: Clinical trial investigator payments
- ConneX: Clinical trial participant travel concierge
How do you find a clinical trial near you?
While there are many clinical trials taking place, it isn’t always easy to find out where to go for information.
CISCRP has a useful collection of resources to help you search for a clinical trial online:
https://www.ciscrp.org/services/search-clinical-trials/
