August 2023 – UKCRC

The UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC) Registered Clinical Trials Units (CTU) Network invites previously unregistered academic Clinical Trials Units to submit applications as part of the 2023 Open Call.

The registration process is designed to help improve the quality of available expertise to carry out clinical trials in the UK. Leading the review is a Committee of internationally recognised experts in clinical trials.

CTUs are specialist units that bring together the expertise needed to undertake a clinical trial or other well-designed studies. Running a study is a complex process and Registered Units need to have the expertise to design, coordinate and analyse them, whilst ensuring that they are conducted in line with appropriate standards and regulations.

To be eligible to apply, units must demonstrate that they are capable of centrally coordinating multi-centre clinical trials and other well designed studies with responsibilities related to the design, conduct, data management, publicity, analysis and reporting of a study.

The deadline for applications is 12 noon on 6 November 2023.

You can find out more on the eligibility criteria and registration process here. For answers to common queries please visit our FAQ page or contact the Secretariat on regctus@leeds.ac.uk.

Munya Dimairo (centre) collecting his award from Julia Brown (left). Shown with Macey Murray (right)

In autumn 2022, Munya Dimairo from Sheffield CTU secured a prestigious award at the International Clinical Trials Methodology Conference (ICTMC) in Harrogate for his remarkable presentation titled “A Practical Adaptive Designs Toolkit: Making adaptive designs more accessible” (PANDA).

Among numerous contenders, his work truly shone in the eyes of the CTU Directors, who sought out the session with the “greatest potential for future impact.” We commend his expertise and unwavering commitment to advancing clinical trials methodologies.

We took a moment to chat with him about his project and what has changed in the 12 months since he won his award. Here’s what he had to share:

What has changed for you since receiving the award?

Being acknowledged on behalf of the PANDA team was an incredible moment. Our creation of an open-access, self-paced educational resource has sparked significant interest. Post the ICTMC 2022, we observed a surge in engagement with the PANDA resource, evident through increased Google Analytics activity. The positive feedback from platform users has been gratifying. Moreover, I’ve been honoured with invitations to conduct outreach training sessions, both in-person and through webinars. These sessions focus on guiding users in utilizing the PANDA platform to devise trial designs and navigate practical intricacies.

What do you hope will come from receiving this award and what will hopefully come from your piece of work?

Our aspiration is to foster broader involvement from the research community across sectors, ensuring continual enhancement of the PANDA resource’s longevity. The PANDA resource stands to enrich the multidisciplinary research landscape, equipping stakeholders with practical insights into randomised adaptive trials’ design, execution, analysis, and reporting. This, in turn, aims to bolster the adoption of efficient adaptive designs, ultimately benefiting patients and the public. Our vision is for PANDA to evolve into a comprehensive educational repository on adaptive trials, a user-friendly conduit for diverse stakeholders to empower themselves in adaptive design methodologies.

What’s next for you? Are there any more current pieces of work that you’re currently a part of that you’d like to share?

The journey for PANDA continues with a focus on ongoing refinement. Collaboratively, I’m engaged with fellow researchers, including colleagues from the MRC-NIHR TMRP Adaptive Designs Working Group. Our efforts extend to diverse methodological projects, contributing directly or indirectly to enhancing PANDA’s impact. These encompass aspects such as estimating treatment effects post adaptive trials, crafting guidance for participant information sheets, formulating estimands, drafting statistical analysis plans, elucidating sample sizes in grant proposals, devising robust interim analysis protocols, and extending SPIRIT and CONSORT guidelines to early phase dose-finding trials. Our commitment remains resolute in driving meaningful progress in clinical trial methodologies.

With Munya’s pioneering work, we glimpse a future where clinical trials stand as beacons of innovation, empowering both researchers and the public alike.

If you like to find out more about Munya and the PANDA Project visit https://panda.shef.ac.uk/.