Claudia Christian, Senior Vice President, Clinical Operations at FHI Clinical, recently spoke with Seth Gulledge, writer for the Research Triangle Park, North Carolina-based Triangle Business Journal, about how the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the traditional model for clinical trials. This has prompted CROs around the Triangle to rapidly integrate virtual trial models to speed up clinical research and push COVID-19 vaccines and therapies to market.
Christian explained how at least 95 percent of FHI Clinical’s clinical trials were “either stopped or significantly slowed down” due to the pandemic, ultimately prompting a paradigm shift toward virtual trials. The rapid adoption has increased demand for the company’s services, resulting in the hiring of multiple new employees at FHI Clinical.
While fears of quality had previously slowed the transition to virtual trials, Christian noted that these fears have proven to be unfounded.
“This has already been shifting in the industry, mostly probably driven by cost and time with the quality question mark,” she said. “But now I think we’re proving more faster than we would have before, now that the quality is there.”
FHI Clinical uses past outbreak experience to lead responses in crisis situations—from rapid study start-up to leveraging existing research networks and contributing to local health systems. Currently, FHI Clinical is supporting multiple SARS-CoV-2 studies.
For more of Christian’s interview, check out the Triangle Business Journal article.
