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Clinical trial coordinator

We are funding a clinical trial coordinator at the London muscle centre to help run clinical trials and involve more people with muscle wasting conditions in research.
Details
Principal Investigator
Professor Francesco Muntoni
Institute
London muscle centre
Duration
Ongoing

What is the role of a clinical trial coordinator?

The running of a clinical trial imposes a massive administrative burden on the participating clinics, which can often not be taken on without specialist help. The role of the clinical trial coordinator therefore is to help with this administration and facilitate the setting up and running of trials. Coordinators carry out a variety of duties such as:

  • liaising with regulatory authorities
  • submission of vital documentation to appropriate bodies, such as ethics boards
  • identification of patients who may be suitable for the trial
  • helping with recruitment and information
  • planning often complex clinic visits and arranging patient travel
  • data management, helping with monitoring visits and audits.

The Coordinator is vital to the quality, safety and efficiency of a trial. The coordinator will guarantee that the research is performed within the regulatory guidelines as well as the specifications outlined in the trial protocol. They also ensure they comply with both departmental standard operating procedures (or rules) about the conduct of research and any external governance requirements. Without this role, it would be very difficult for muscle centres to take part in as many clinical trials as they are currently involved in. This is a key position which helps the muscle centres to participate in national and international clinical trials and other projects such as natural history studies. Having clinical trial coordinators at the muscle centres ensures that the families and individuals we support have early access to trials and potential new treatments.

The impact of clinical trial coordinators

From 2016-2023 we funded a clinical trial coordinator at the Newcastle muscle centre. The Coordinator helped increase the number of trials run, the number of conditions they ran trials for and the number of people involved in trials.

Key achievements:

  • recruited 400 people with muscle wasting and weakening conditions into trials
  • ran trials for 7 different muscle wasting and weakening conditions
  • became the first site in the UK to run a gene therapy trial for a muscle wasting and weakening condition

This funding highlighted the importance of the Clinical Trial Coordinator role. Now the centre has the evidence to show how impactful the role is, they are leveraging funding to make sure this post continues in the future.

Clinical trials

Learn about clinical trials, how to find a trial and what to consider before taking part.

Research News

The latest research and clinical trial updates.

We’ve already made great progress.

But there is still so much that needs to be done. Together, we can change the future of muscle wasting conditions. Join us. Today.