NIH takes step to speed the initiation of clinical research by ensuring use of single IRB

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

The National Institutes of Health issued a draft policy today to promote the use of single institutional review boards or IRBs, in multi-site clinical research studies. IRBs play a critical role in assuring the ethical conduct of clinical research, and studies must be reviewed and approved by an IRB before they can begin. When the regulations for protection of human subjects were first published, most clinical research was conducted at a single institution. Since then, the research landscape has evolved, and many studies are carried out at multiple sites and within large networks. Studies that go beyond a single site are often able to recruit more individuals from diverse populations. These multi-site studies can often generate important results in less time. However, working through IRB review at each site can add delay without increasing the protections for the research participants in the study.