GCP Blog — Field notes from clinical research
Recent dispatches
Protocol Feasibility Assessment as an ICH E8 Quality-by-Design Gate: Run It on the Draft, Before Lock
The most common feasibility anti-pattern in clinical operations is mailing a questionnaire to candidate sites after the protocol is already final and calling the response rate "feasibility." That exercise answers a recruitment question for a business-development pipeline.
ReadClinical Trial Terminology, Grouped by Workflow and Stamped to ICH E6(R3) (2025)
Flat glossaries answer "what does this word mean" but not "when does it matter and which definition is current." This reference fixes both.
ReadClinical Trial Sponsor Responsibilities: The Non-Delegable Oversight System Under ICH E6(R3)
If you run trials through a contract research organization (CRO), the single most expensive misunderstanding you can carry is this one: that outsourcing a task also outsources the accountability for it.
ReadThe Clinical Trial Agreement, Decoded: A Clause-by-Clause Negotiator's Playbook for the GCP Duties You Cannot Sign Away
The CTA is where the abstract obligations of Good Clinical Practice become contractually enforceable promises between named parties.
ReadThe Delegation of Authority Log: Who Did What, and Whether They Were Qualified To
A clinical trial is run by a team, but the regulations hold one person answerable for it.
ReadRisk-Based Quality Management (RBQM) Under ICH E6(R3): Quality Designed In, Not Inspected In
A common misread treats "risk-based" as a monitoring style.
ReadThe Clinical Study Report (CSR): ICH E3 Structure as a Reasoning Framework
A clinical study report exists so that someone who was not there can rebuild the study and judge it.
ReadThe Clinical Monitoring Plan: A Risk-Based Blueprint, Not a Visit Schedule
The instinct is to treat the monitoring plan as a schedule: visit every site every six weeks, check everything.
ReadSUSAR Reporting: Suspected, Unexpected, Serious, and the Clocks That Follow
SUSAR stands for suspected unexpected serious adverse reaction, and the name is the definition.
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