Project description:Interventional clinical studies can provide the highest levels of evidence and generate significant results on specific investigational medicinal products or medical devices. In order to have powerful studies, attain unquestionable results and make significant discoveries, the number of patients enrolled must be high. Therefore, multinational, randomised clinical trials are necessary. The multicentre, multinational recruitment of subjects in investigator-initiated clinical trials (IICTs) increases their logistical burden, justifying the need for specific infrastructures to ease implementation. Herein, we provide for the first time an overview of the facts and figures concerning IICTs, existing infrastructures' capacity for interventional clinical research, and scientific performance of investigators in a European country, Portugal. We aim to highlight the relevance and need for investing in European infrastructures such as the European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network (ECRIN) for multinational IICTs. A public, non-profit organisation, ECRIN facilitates the conduct of multinational clinical trials in Europe by coordinating scientific partners and their networks, and providing advice, management services and tools to enhance collaboration. Currently in Portugal, few multinational randomised IICTs are coordinated by national investigators. This is most likely due to the lack of human resources dedicated to clinical trials in clinical research centres (CRCs) as well as the scarcity of professional academic clinical trial units (CTUs) providing logistics and management services at non-profit rates. With the data shown, we expect to trigger the development of similar studies in other European countries and stress the impact of government support for IICTs.
Project description:IntroductionLung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality in the People's Republic of China. Targeted therapies for patients with lung cancer, which depend on accurate identification of actionable genomic alteration, have improved survival compared with previously available treatments. However, data on the types of molecular testing often used in the People's Republic of China, and how they have changed over time, are scarce. We explored the overall landscape of molecular testing of lung cancer in mainland People's Republic of China in the past decade.MethodsWe distributed a stratified random sampling survey of molecular testing to 49 hospitals from members of the Molecular Pathology Collaboration Group of Chinese Anti-Cancer Association which was weighted by the numbers of lung cancer cases in seven different geographic regions in mainland People's Republic of China from 2010 to 2019. The questionnaire contained four parts for all respondents. The questionnaire ascertained the use of approved in vitro diagnostic (IVD) devices published by the Center for Medical Device Evaluation, National Medical Products Administration of the People's Republic of China.ResultsA total of 226,227 NSCLC specimens were tested from 2010 to 2019 in the selected hospitals. The annual number of initiated molecular tests increased over time (p < 0.0001), with an average annual growth rate of 31.8%. A notable increase in the number of molecular tests occurred during 2014 and 2016, which coincided with the approval of the National Medical Products Administration to IVD devices. For the diagnosis of molecular subtypes, EGFR mutation testing was first conducted in year 2007, followed by ALK translocation testing in 2010 and ROS1 in 2011. For other rare genetic variations in NSCLC, BRAF mutation testing was first launched in 2012, MET exon 14 skipping mutation in 2014, HER2 exon 20 mutations in 2017, and RET translocation in 2015. A markedly uneven distribution was also observed in the geography of leading units with the largest number of leading units located in east People's Republic of China (34.7%, 17 of 49) and the smallest number located in northwest People's Republic of China (6.1%, 3 of 49). The growth trends we observed illustrate the progress and increasing capability of molecular testing of lung cancer achieved in mainland People's Republic of China in the decade from 2010.ConclusionsIn the decade 2010 to 2019, progress and increased capability of molecular testing of lung cancer were achieved in mainland People's Republic of China. Further efforts should address the clinical application of next-generation sequencing technology, rare genomic aberrations, and the balance between novel genomic testing techniques and the approval of IVD products.
Project description:BackgroundRandomized controlled trials (RCTs) are the gold standard for evidence-based practice, but their development and implementation is resource intensive. We aimed to describe modern RCTs in gastrointestinal (GI) cancer and identify predictors of successful accrual and publication.Materials and methodsClinicalTrials.gov was queried for phase III GI cancer RCTs opened between 2010 and 2019 and divided into two cohorts: past and recruiting. Past trials were analyzed for predictors of successful accrual and the subset with ≥3 years follow-up were analyzed for predictors of publication. Univariate and multivariable (MVA) logistic regression were used to identify covariates associated with complete accrual and publication status.ResultsA total of 533 GI RCTs were opened from 2010 to 2019, 244 of which are still recruiting. In the "past" trials cohort (235/533) MVA, Asian continent of enrollment was a predictor for successful accrual, whereas trials with prolonged enrollment (duration longer than median of 960 days) trended to failed accrual. Predictors for publication on MVA included international enrollment and accrual completion. Sponsorship was not associated with accrual or publication. Notably, 33% of past trials remain unpublished, and 60% of trials that were closed early remain unpublished.ConclusionAccrual rate and the primary continent of enrollment drive both trial completion and publication in GI oncology. Accrual must be streamlined to enhance the impact of RCTs on clinical management. A large portion of trials remain unpublished, underscoring the need to encourage dissemination of all trials to, at a minimum, inform future trial design.Implications for practiceTwo-thirds of gastrointestinal (GI) oncology phase III randomized controlled trials successfully accrue; however, one third of these trials are unpublished and more than half of trials that close early are unpublished. The strongest predictors for publication are successful accrual and international collaborations. Initiatives to optimize the trial enrollment process need to be explored to maximize the potential for trials to engender progress in clinical practice. Moreover, this study identified a significant publication bias in the realm of GI oncology, and the field should promote reporting of all trials in order to better inform future trial questions and design.
Project description:This narrative review aimed to clarify the characteristics of international government support for sepsis research, trends in published literature on sepsis, and potential contributions of government-source grants to progress in sepsis research between fiscal years 2010 and 2019. The data in this study were collected from the National Institutes of Health (NIH, https://projectreporter.nih.gov/reporter.cfm/) of the United States of America (USA), National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, https://isisn.nsfc.gov.cn/egrantweb/), and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS, https://kaken.nii.ac.jp/). All sepsis-related projects approved by the NIH, NSFC, and JSPS were retrieved by searching the project titles, abstracts, and key words for "sepsis," "septic shock," or "sepsis inflammatory response syndrome" between 2010 and 2019. Representative sepsis-related studies published between Jan 2010 and Aug 2020 by the first/corresponding authors from these countries were obtained by searching the PubMed database using Medical Subject Heading terms for "sepsis" in representative journals, including Nature, Cell, Science, The Lancet, New England Journal of medicine (New Engl J Med), The Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA), Critical Care Medicine (CCM), Intensive Care Medicine (ICM), Chest, Annals of Emergency Medicine (Ann Emerg Med), and American Thoracic Society journals (ATS). The total/annual institutional budgets, major funding mechanisms and schemes, superior institutions and individual principal investigators, and published original research articles in the field of sepsis in the USA, China, and Japan during the past decade were investigated. The national supporting schemes of the NIH, NSFC, and JSPS were similar. Support from these institutions is quite important for the development of the field of "sepsis" which was acknowledged in 57-64% of original research articles published in CCM. For the future development of precision medicine in sepsis, more government funding support is necessary.
Project description:As cutting-edge technologies in biomedicine, cell and gene therapy (CGT) products demonstrate immense potential in treating cancer, rare diseases, and genetic disorders, thereby driving the importance of clinical research in this area. This study analyzes the growth trends and key characteristics of 1033 Investigator-Initiated Trials (IITs) conducted by mainland Chinese institutions in the CGT field. The results show that IITs have played a positive role in the early proof-of-concept of CGT products, helping to obtain preliminary safety and efficacy data, and exploring the combination of CGT products with other therapies. Additionally, this study discusses the regional distribution, therapeutic areas, and challenges faced by IITs in the development of CGT products in China. Based on these findings, policy suggestions are proposed to optimize the regulation of IITs in mainland China, such as improving regulatory frameworks and enhancing technical guidance. It is hoped that these measures will further improve the efficiency and quality of IITs, fully utilize the large patient base and abundant clinical resources, and support the development of high-quality CGT products in mainland China.
Project description:A literature review spanning January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2019, was conducted using the PubMed and ISI Web of Science databases to determine the breadth of publication activity in the area of gram-negative bacteria antimicrobial therapy. The number of articles was used as a reflection of scholarly activity. First, PubMed was searched using the following Medical Subject Headings (MeSH): antibacterial agents, Enterobacteriaceae, Acinetobacter, and Pseudomonas. A total of 12 643 articles were identified within PubMed, and 77 862 articles were identified within ISI Web of Science that included these terms. Second, these articles were categorized by antibiotic class to identify relative contributions to the literature by drug category. Third, these studies were used to identify key trends in the treatment of gram-negative bacterial infections from the past decade. This review highlights advances made in the past 10 years in antibacterial pharmacotherapy and some of the challenges that await the next decade of practice.
Project description:Coxsackievirus A12 (CVA12) is an enterovirus that has been isolated in many countries in recent years. However, studies on CVA12 are limited, and its effective population size, evolutionary dynamics and recombination patterns have not been clarified now. In this study, we described the phylogenetic characteristics of 16 CVA12 strains isolated from pediatric HFMD patients in mainland China from 2010 to 2019. Comparison of the nucleotide sequences and amino acid sequences with the CVA12 prototype strain revealed that the 16 CVA12 strains are identical in 78.8-79% and 94-94.2%, respectively. A phylodynamic analysis based on the 16 full-length VP1 sequences from this study and 21 sequences obtained from GenBank revealed a mean substitution rate of 6.61 × 10-3 substitutions/site/year (95% HPD: 5.16-8.20 × 10-3), dating the time to most recent common ancestor (tMRCA) of CVA12 back to 1946 (95% HPD: 1942-1947). The Bayesian skyline plot showed that the effective population size has experienced twice dynamic fluctuations since 2007. Phylogeographic analysis identified two significant migration pathways, indicating the existence of cross-provincial transmission of CVA12 in mainland China. Recombination analysis revealed two recombination patterns between 16 CVA12 strains and other EV-A, suggesting that there may be extensive genetic exchange between CVA12 and other enteroviruses. In summary, a total of 16 full-length CVA12 strains were reported in this study, providing valuable references for further studies of CVA12 worldwide.
Project description:PurposeIn this investigation, we aimed to describe trends in time to acceptance (TTA) and time to online publication (TTOP) of research published in leading radiation oncology journals from 2010 to 2019. We further sought to identify journal characteristics that might influence TTA and TTOP.Methods and materialsWe searched the publication history of 5 leading international radiation oncology journals. For all research articles accepted from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2019, we tabulated the date of article receipt, the date of acceptance, and the date of online publication when available. The TTA was calculated as the number of elapsed days from article receipt to acceptance, and the TTOP was calculated as the number of elapsed days from article acceptance to online publication. Using the Mann-Kendall test, we assessed for monotonic trends over time and used the post hoc Theil-Sen method to estimate rates of change. We created a multiple regression model to identify journal characteristics associated with TTA and TTOP.ResultsIn total, 10,132 articles were included. Both the TTA and the TTOP decreased significantly from 2010 to 2019 (P = .005 and P < .001, respectively), with an estimated decrease of 1.5 days per year for the TTA and 7.0 days per year for the TTOP. Multiple regression modeling revealed that a higher journal impact factor was independently associated with an increased TTA (P < .001) and a decreased TTOP (P < .001). A higher number of accepted journal articles per year was associated with a decreased TTA (P < .001) and an increased TTOP (P < .001).ConclusionsRadiation oncology research has been accepted and published online at increasingly faster rates during the past decade. The TTA may be longer in higher-impact, more selective journals, possibly suggesting a need for comprehensive peer review and complex editorial decisions. However, these articles are also published online faster after article acceptance. Future work examining patterns of acceptance and publication speed is needed to encourage rapid dissemination of practice-guiding data.
Project description:BackgroundAcademic/institutional investigator-initiated clinical trials benefit individuals and society by supplementing gaps in industry-sponsored clinical trials.MaterialsIn May 2010, experts from Japan, the Republic of Korea, the UK, and the United States, met at a symposium in Tokyo, Japan, to discuss how policies related to the conduct of clinical trials, which have been shown to be effective, may be applied to other regions of the world.ResultsIn order to increase the availability of anticancer drugs world-wide, nations including Japan should examine the benefits of increasing the number of investigator-initiated clinical trials. These trials represent one of the most effective ways to translate basic scientific knowledge into clinical practice. These trials should be conducted under GCP guidelines and include Investigational New Drug application submissions with the ultimate goal of future drug approval.ConclusionsTo maximize the effectiveness of these trials, a policy to educate health care professionals, cancer patients and their families, and the public in general on the benefits of clinical trials should be strengthened. Finally, policies that expedite the clinical development of novel cancer drugs which have already been shown to be effective in other countries are needed in many nations including Japan to accelerate drug approval.