Internet Resources Guide
A list of Web sites focused on the professional and/or potential trial participant.
There is a wealth of information online regarding clinical trials. This Internet Resources section is designed to assist our readers in becoming more informed clinical trial professionals. The following Web sites are focused on the professional and/or potential participant. Please note that many pharmaceutical companies currently running trials offer access to them through their own Web sites. In addition, many patient advocacy groups and disease-specific organizations may have listings for current clinical trials specific to a medical condition on their home pages on the Web.—The Editors
The Adult AIDS Clinical Trials Group (AACTG)
Featuring occasional news regarding AIDS trials and listings of trials according to location, state, type of trial, and eligibility requirements. AACTG is funded by the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Canada Trials
A free service that utilizes a multi-criteria searchable database of clinical trials sponsored by public institutions and non-profit Canadian organizations. The site allows researchers to post trials or submit a center profile to be viewed by sponsors. In addition to searching for trials that are actively enrolling patients, users can learn about various patient support groups.
CancerConsultants
www.patient.cancerconsultants.com/
Viewed by over 250,000 people every month, this popular site is managed by the oncology research center www.CancerConsultants.com Inc. and provides numerous resources, including a drug and cancer dictionary, a section for newly diagnosed cancer patients, a free newsletter (SURVIVE), coverage of major medical meetings, and access to clinical trials searchable by cancer type and U.S. location. The site can also be viewed in Spanish and is endorsed by the Oncology Nursing Society.
CancerEducation.com
Resource-rich Web site offering cancer-related information for professionals and patients. Features comprehensive coverage of over 20 cancer types, access to medical reference texts, live and archived Webcasts, continuing education accreditation, multimedia clips, a dose calculator for physicians, online medical journals, a clinical trials search engine, practice guidelines, and disease-specific moderated message boards. Free registration is required to access portions of the Web site.
CancerHelp UK
A free information service sponsored by Cancer Research UK that provides information on cancer treatments and research along with a search engine that allows users to search clinical trials by type of cancer, trial name, or drug. This well-designed site also features a recommended reading list for over 30 different types of cancers and an impressive index of related links.
Clinical Trials On-Line
www.clinicaltrials.coh.org/specific_search.aspx
A facet of the City of Hope National Medical Center Web site that allows users to search for the Center's clinical trials by phase, study objective or studies that contain a particular keyword within the protocol summary (i.e., drug name, type of treatment). Site is available in English and Spanish. Currently, it lists only cancer related studies, so call 1-877-482-HOPE (4673) if interested in trials involving diabetes, HIV/AIDS or other life-threatening diseases.
CenterWatch Clinical Trials Listing Service
Thomson CenterWatch lists over 41,000 active trials run by both industry and government. Searchable by disease, state or keyword, the site is designed for easy access by both patients and industry.
Clinical Trials Search.org
A Web site dedicated solely to listing clinical research studies in human subjects, allowing potential volunteers to search for trials by location—both within and outside the United States—as well as by condition or sponsor. The site provides a list of most popular searches and a list of resources ranging from news articles to various trial registries.
ClinicalTrials.gov
This longtime National Institutes of Health (NIH) database lists many of the Institutes funded clinical trials and has a wealth of search options, including location, disease, treatment type, and age group. There is a particular focus on AIDS and cancer trials.
Current Controlled Trials
A pair of registries—the metaRegister of Controlled Trials and the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number Register—that used to publish trial information for free but now charge a registration fee. It's published by the Science Navigation Group, parent company of BioMed Central, a publisher of over 180 medical journals.
Directory of Clinical Databases (UK)
An information resource for those involved in clinical audit, clinical governance, health services management, health services research, research funding, and academic publishing. DoCDat uniquely enables users to find out whether a database exists that's suitable to their variables. Search using a number of criteria, ranging from type of patient (condition or treatment) to geographical area covered (within Europe, Ireland, and the UK only).
DrugsOnTrial.com
A free portal site that aims to bridge the information gap between patients, doctors, academic, government, and the medical/pharmaceutical research industry. In addition to searching an alphabetical list of current trials, users can browse a FAQ section for both subjects and investigators or explore a directory of pharma companies, CROs, professional associations, and medical agencies.
FDA's Guidance for Industry Information Program on Clinical Trials for Serious or Life-Threatening Diseases and Conditions
www.fda.gov/cder/guidance/4856fnl.htm
This FDA document delineates statutory and procedural steps to assist sponsors who will be submitting information to the Clinical Trials Data Bank (www.clinicaltrials.gov).
Giving Flite
Based in Birmingham, Alabama, this nonprofit organization is dedicated to giving clinical research patients the ability to participate in far-off trials via philanthropic flights.
National Cancer Institute
www.cancer.gov/clinical_trials
This search site, run by the National Institutes of Health, allows users to find trials by stage/subtype of cancer and type of trial (i.e., prevention, diagnostic or genetic). It also takes travel into consideration, allowing a distance search by zip code and the option to choose trials from 20 to 500 miles away.
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (UK)
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Web site provides guidance—developed using the expertise of the UK's National Health Service and health care community—on the use of new and existing medicines and treatments, the appropriate treatment and care of people with specific diseases and conditions, and whether procedures used for diagnosis or treatment are safe enough and work well for routine use. While aimed at the UK health care consumer, the site also attempts to cover sources from the rest of Europe as well as the United States. It features a "Suggest a Topic" section, which allows users to have a say in future content.
National Research Register (UK)
This National Research Register (NRR) of the UK's National Health Service offers an interface for searching the UK Medical Research Council's clinical trials directory plus six other databases of health-related research records. There are contributions from over 350 different organizations.
Partners Healthcare System
www.healthcare.partners.org/phsirb/home.htm
The Web site of the Partners Healthcare System Institutional Review Board—which approves all human-subject research conducted by Partners-affiliated investigators—offering consent and expedited review forms, guidance and assurance documents, information for the public, and lots more. There's a link to an HIPAA page that includes policy and training information as well as newsletters that explain HIPAA and the "Privacy Rule."
Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group (PACTG)
Run by the Division of AIDS of the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, PACTG evaluates treatments for children and adolescents with HIV and works on interruptions for mother-to-child transmission.
PhRMA Clinical Study Results Database
A Web-based repository of results from clinical trials (both published and unpublished) of 63 different pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Procter & Gamble. Part of a drive to make clinical trial results for pharmaceuticals marketed in the United States more transparent. Submitting to the database is voluntary.
Physician Data Query (PDQ)
www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cancerdatabase
The National Cancer Institute maintains their PDQ cancer database on this site. This comprehensive resource contains peer-reviewed summaries (updated monthly by six editorial boards) on cancer treatment, screening, prevention, genetics, supportive care, and complementary and alternative medicine. It also features a registry of approximately 2000 open and 13,000 closed cancer clinical trials from around the world and directories of physicians and other professionals who provide genetics services and cancer care.
SearchClinicalTrials.org
www.ciscrp.org/fastsearch/searchform.asp
A Web site sponsored by The Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP) designed especially for the public that simplifies the search process. Trial listings (U.S. and Canadian), results, and news are just a few clicks away for the interested visitor, who can customize their searches to find all the resources they need to become informed about clinical research and participation in trials.
Trials Central
Trials Central provides easy, free, and confidential access to listings of clinical trials. Users can search by condition (diabetes, cancer, HIV, etc.) or by type of organization (hospital, nonprofit, or government). There are also links to other health care information sites, including medical dictionaries and published articles.
WHO Health Metrics Network
This site is run by the WHO's Health Metrics Network (HMN), whose mission is to strengthen individual country health information systems and generate sound data for decision making at country and global levels. The searchable database contains information related to surveys, vital registration, surveillance, routine Health Information Systems, and population health research–related activities carried out in countries from 1994 to the present.
WHO International CT Registry Platform
The WHO's International Clinical Trial Registry Platform (ICTRP) is a global project to facilitate access to information about controlled trials and their results. The site also contains background information and news.
WHO Research Tools
This site offers links to many valuable WHO resources, including the WHO library database (WHOLIS), which indexes all WHO publications since 1948 and articles from WHO-produced journals and technical documents since 1985, the WHO Statistical Information System (WHOSIS), and the the WHO Communicable Disease Global Atlas. Of note are the multimedia resources (i.e., photos, audio clips, and animation) that pertain to important worldwide health topics. There are also a number of links to other centers of information.
Including Women of Childbearing Age in Clinical Research
March 26th 2024In recognition of International Women's Month, we're featuring this recent talk between Associate Editor Miranda Schmalfuhs and Marie Teil, Global Head of UCB’s Women of Childbearing Age Program. They speak about the specific challenges women with chronic illnesses face when accessing appropriate treatment and participating in clinical trials, UCB's Women of Childbearing Age Program and it’s most successful strategies, and much more.
Regulatory Compliance With eCOAs
April 26th 2024In the fourth and final part of this video interview with ACT editor Andy Studna, Melissa Mooney, director, eCOA sales engineering, IQVIA discusses how the regulatory stance on electronic clinical outcome assessments has changed over the years and what it could look like in the future.
Improving Engagement While Maintaining Data Integrity & Validity
March 19th 2024In recognition of Women's Health Month, we're featuring this recent talk between Associate Editor Miranda Schmalfuhs and uMotif's Chief Product Officer, Julia Lakeland, discuss new technologies improving patient engagement and reducing the emotional and logistical burdens of participation, ethical considerations that should be addressed when implementing those technologies, while ensuring patient privacy, and much more.
Using Patient Reported Outcomes in Dermatology Trials
April 25th 2024In part 3 of this video interview with ACT editor Andy Studna, Melissa Mooney, director, eCOA sales engineering, IQVIA sheds light on the unique challenges of dermatology trials and how clinical outcome assessments can be implemented in them.
