Over the past month, we have written five posts in the series “Am I IRB Forum Shopping?”. Our first post was an Introduction to IRB Forum Shopping; the unethical practice of choosing an IRB based on the relative ease of the review and the perception that the review will result in a favourable decision. We presented […]
The Montreal Tuberculosis Outbreak remains the most blatant case of IRB Forum Shopping in history. The events can be summarized as follows: The Montreal Tuberculosis Outbreak remains the most blatant case of IRB Forum Shopping in history. Why did SFBC Anapharm send their fourth study to IRB Services? Could it be that SFBC Anapharm had […]
In December 2015, a Canadian research sponsor submitted a Phase III, multicenter study to Veritas IRB for review. It involved women, 45 years of age and over. Veritas IRB approved the study with the condition that women of child-bearing potential must undergo routine urine pregnancy testing during their participation in the study and upon exiting […]
Veritas IRB has received three submissions in the past five months of post-marketing observational trials from two research sponsors (the Canadian office of one of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies, and a Canadian-based pharmaceutical company). All three trials had one thing in common; they were old-fashioned seeding trials disguised as bona fide research studies. […]
Last month, Veritas IRB received a submission from a research sponsor (Canadian office of one of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies) for review of a Phase III, multicenter trial. Missing from the submission were the contracts (also referred to as clinical trial agreements) between the research sponsor and the Canadian investigators. Instead of providing […]
We recently revisited the Montreal tuberculosis outbreak wherein we identified IRB Forum Shopping as the root cause of this tragedy. IRB Forum Shopping is an under-researched yet highly-relevant ethical issue in the context of the North American governance of clinical research. Essentially, it is the practice of choosing an IRB based on the relative ease […]
