A streamlined system for research ethics review, launched by Clinical Trials Ontario (CTO) in 2015, is one of the initiatives highlighted in a new report on the Government of Ontario’s burden reduction activities.
The Building a Better Business Climate for Ontario: 2015 Burden Reduction Report features 28 initiatives across government that are “modernizing services and making it easier for businesses to succeed.”
The report was released on June 30 by the Ministry of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure.
It describes how CTO has created a streamlined approach to conducting multi-centre clinical trials in Ontario while also maintaining the highest ethical standards for participant protection. The CTO Streamlined Research Ethics Review System enables any single Research Ethics Board, qualified by CTO, to provide ethics review and oversight on behalf of multiple research sites involved in a clinical trial.
“This has eliminated the potential for 10 participating sites to have 10 separate ethics boards reviewing exactly the same proposal,” the report explains. “After the protocol and overall study documents are approved, individual research sites can be approved to participate in a trial in days, versus two to five months previously.”
The report points to the province’s tremendous success in biomedical discovery. It notes, however, that the time and cost associated with initiating and conducting clinical trials have been factors in research institutions receiving investments.
“Our government has been working hard to find ways to both preserve and grow the estimated $1 billion in clinical trial investments across Ontario.”
CTO was established in 2012 with support from the Ministry of Research and Innovation.
To read the 2015 Burden Reduction Report, click here.
About Clinical Trials Ontario
Clinical Trials Ontario (CTO) is an independent not-for-profit organization established with support from the Government of Ontario. CTO’s mandate is to provide a streamlined approach to conducting multi-centre clinical trials in Ontario. The vision of CTO is to make Ontario a preferred location for global clinical trials, while maintaining the highest ethical standards for participant protection.
CTO is led and supported by the provincial community of stakeholders involved in clinical trials in Ontario. www.ctontario.ca