Executive Summary
Common Protocol Template
(CPT)
Copyright ©2015 TransCelerate BioPharma Inc., All rights reserved. 2
What is TransCelerate?
Our vision
To improve the health of people around the
world by accelerating and simplifying the research and
development of innovative new therapies.
Our mission
To collaborate across the global research and
development community to identify, prioritize, design
and facilitate implementation of solutions designed to
drive the efficient, effective and high-quality delivery of
new medicines.
TransCelerate is a not-for-profit entity created to drive collaboration
across the pharmaceutical industry as a means to developing
solutions for overcoming inefficiencies
Our core values
 Quality
 Transparency &
Openness to new ideas
 Trust & Integrity
 Collaboration
 Courage
Copyright ©2015 TransCelerate BioPharma Inc., All rights reserved. 3
Why a Common Protocol Template?
Heard at a June 2015 DIA meeting…
“Patient recruitment is
challenged by the
complexity of protocols.
Sponsors do the same
things too many
different ways. Just
make it the same!”
“If you have
standards without
traceability, then
you aren't really
CDISC
compliant.”
Investigator
FDA
“Just because ‘subject’ is in
the regs, doesn’t mean you
have to use it. Patients think
of ‘subject’ as a verb, and who
wants to be subjected to
something? Please use ‘trial
participant’ instead.”
Patient Advocate
Copyright ©2015 TransCelerate BioPharma Inc., All rights reserved. 4
Problem Statement
– Format and core content of study protocols
vary from sponsor to sponsor making
interpretation difficult for study sites, IRBs, and
regulators.
– Study protocols have become
increasingly complex and lengthy
driving up cost and time.
– Manual set-up of clinical systems based on
non-standard “manual” protocols is time
consuming, costly, and prone to error.
Solutions
– Develop a streamlined model clinical
trial protocol, including format and
core content, to ease interpretation
and enable down-stream automation
of many clinical processes.
– Develop model protocol endpoint
definitions, incorporate into piloting
of the template.
Background:
Why a Common Protocol Template?
Guiding Principles
– “Common” in a CPT: information always in the same place, means the same thing.
– Is it better? Move beyond incremental improvements and current limitations.
– It has to be better for everyone, but Investigators/Sites are the first priority.
– A human readable template that paves the way for an automated solution and facilitates the
use of data standards.
Copyright ©2015 TransCelerate BioPharma Inc., All rights reserved. 5
Near Term Benefits to Sites
• Protocols streamlined and
organized with an investigator
focus
• Reduced burden on sites
working on multiple studies
The Common Protocol Template Potentially
Benefits Many Stakeholders
Sponsor
Sites
IRB
Patient
Regulator
Near Term Benefits to Sponsors
• Reduction in redundant protocol content
• Enabling of therapeutic area
standards
• Improved conduct of the study
and quality of data collected
Potential Future Benefits to Sponsors
• Automation of downstream
processes and reuse of content
• Enabling of therapeutic area
standards in additional TAs
• Enabling collaborative clinical trials
Potential Future Benefits to Sites
• Opportunity to harmonize
additional documentation
• Enable consistency of some
case report forms
Near Term Benefits to IRBs
Increased consistency between
sponsor protocols: easier
review and faster approval
Potential Future Benefits to IRBs
Enabler for automation
of IRBs submissions
Near Term Benefits to Patients
Increased efficiency / quality in
clinical development for
participants & future patients
Potential Future Benefits to Patients
• Improved access to protocol
information
• Getting medicines faster, for
participants & future patients
Near Term Benefits to Regulators
• Protocols streamlined, increased
consistency between sponsor
protocols to ease review
Potential Future Benefits to Regulators
• Increased ease of data interpretation
and ability to compare protocols
(improves input on protocol design)
• Increased use of data standards
enabling end-to-end use of metadata
and traceability
Near
Term Potential
Future State
Copyright ©2015 TransCelerate BioPharma Inc., All rights reserved. 6
• A common protocol template structure
with proposed model language
• Streamlined content enables
identification of critical information for end
users
• Begin working towards common endpoint
definitions to align with Clinical Data
Interchange Standards Consortium
(CDISC) Therapeutic Area (TA) data
standards. Asthma and Diabetes
available in the first release.
• Reconnect processes (protocol, eCRF,
development)
• Transformation of the design process
o Analytics-driven trial design, modelling,
scenario planning
• Role-based access to protocol
information (Principal Investigator [PI],
Ethics, Participants)
• Connection to other systems
Common Protocol Template is Intended to
Prepare for the Future State
Human-
Readable
Protocol
IRB/IECs
Sites
Regulators
Foundation
Machine-
Readable
Protocol Metadata driven
processes
Content Reuse
Disclosure
SAP
CSR
eCRF
Statistical Output
Future
Copyright ©2015 TransCelerate BioPharma Inc., All rights reserved. 7
Current State/Future State:
Establishing Our Direction
Where we started…
– Paper-based, manual processing
Where we are…
– Electronic,
document based
Where we should be…
– Digital, Cloud-based,
computable, re-usable
Today
• Manual processes and interventions
• Duplication of company efforts
• Disconnected interfaces
• Lot of customization
• Long cycle times
• Variable quality
• High costs
• Rework
• Patient-centric clinical
trial design
• Automated/seamless
interfaces / parallel
processing
• Quality by design
• Shorter cycle times
• Cost efficient
• “Integration of Data
Analytics”Incremental
Transformational
Copyright ©2015 TransCelerate BioPharma Inc., All rights reserved. 8
Advisory Committee – Initial Development
eProtocol
Advisory
Committee
STAKEHOLDER FEEDBACK
“…to inform the development of
a common human readable and
electronic protocol template and
provide a forum for key
stakeholders to inform future
direction and provide know-how
(Committee Charter)”
“EMA has not agreed to take up a
position on the Advisory
Committee…..Happy to provide
comments on any draft templates…”
FDA 18-Mar-2016:
“Today we’re announcing a draft clinical trial
protocol template developed by the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) and National Institutes
of Health (NIH) that should help with that. …..We
are aware of other efforts in this area, including
one undertaken by TransCelerate Biopharma Inc.
(TransCelerate), which has issued a common
protocol template intended to be the basis for a
forthcoming electronic protocol. Although our
initial target audiences differ, we plan to
collaborate with groups like TransCelerate to
help ensure consistency for the medical product
development community.”
Other Advisors or Influencers
Copyright ©2015 TransCelerate BioPharma Inc., All rights reserved. 9
Further Development –
Alignment of CPT with NIH Template – May 2017
• Rationale/Goal
• Mutual desire to harmonize CPT and NIH templates
– Acknowledged different audiences: NIH template targeted at single-center and
investigator led studies; CPT targeted at multi-center studies.
– Harmonizing templates will drive harmonization in resulting protocols regardless of
template used
• Alignment on all Level 1 headings, and most Level 2 headings.
• Both CPT and NIH templates to be maintained, modifications made to
each to achieve greatest harmonization
• Updates Included
• Revised order/placement of several sections
– Where different Level 2 headings are required, they are placed after the common
Level 2 headings.
• Combined several sections
• Harmonized terminology where applicable
Copyright ©2015 TransCelerate BioPharma Inc., All rights reserved. 10
Value Proposition – Why Should Sponsors Adopt?
Quality
• The expertise of 18+ member companies has been tapped to develop the template – the
work has been done for you.
• The template includes TA –specific libraries based on sponsor best practices.
• Sponsors will have the opportunity to suggest revisions, and the template will be maintained
and updated over time.
• Broad adoption will help drive greater efficiency for investigators, sites, sponsors, , and
regulators.
Efficiency
• Sponsors can spend less time on low-value customization, and reduce time managing
template maintenance.
• The template is easy for authors to use.
• Sponsors can adopt in a phased approach, and can choose to use either the Word version
or Tech-Enabled version. You don’t have to go “all in” at the outset.
Compliance
• The template is supported by FDA, and Health Authority feedback to date has been
unanimously positive.
Quality + Efficiency + Compliance = Value
Harmonization Value
THANK YOU

Common Protocol Template Executive Summary

  • 1.
  • 2.
    Copyright ©2015 TransCelerateBioPharma Inc., All rights reserved. 2 What is TransCelerate? Our vision To improve the health of people around the world by accelerating and simplifying the research and development of innovative new therapies. Our mission To collaborate across the global research and development community to identify, prioritize, design and facilitate implementation of solutions designed to drive the efficient, effective and high-quality delivery of new medicines. TransCelerate is a not-for-profit entity created to drive collaboration across the pharmaceutical industry as a means to developing solutions for overcoming inefficiencies Our core values  Quality  Transparency & Openness to new ideas  Trust & Integrity  Collaboration  Courage
  • 3.
    Copyright ©2015 TransCelerateBioPharma Inc., All rights reserved. 3 Why a Common Protocol Template? Heard at a June 2015 DIA meeting… “Patient recruitment is challenged by the complexity of protocols. Sponsors do the same things too many different ways. Just make it the same!” “If you have standards without traceability, then you aren't really CDISC compliant.” Investigator FDA “Just because ‘subject’ is in the regs, doesn’t mean you have to use it. Patients think of ‘subject’ as a verb, and who wants to be subjected to something? Please use ‘trial participant’ instead.” Patient Advocate
  • 4.
    Copyright ©2015 TransCelerateBioPharma Inc., All rights reserved. 4 Problem Statement – Format and core content of study protocols vary from sponsor to sponsor making interpretation difficult for study sites, IRBs, and regulators. – Study protocols have become increasingly complex and lengthy driving up cost and time. – Manual set-up of clinical systems based on non-standard “manual” protocols is time consuming, costly, and prone to error. Solutions – Develop a streamlined model clinical trial protocol, including format and core content, to ease interpretation and enable down-stream automation of many clinical processes. – Develop model protocol endpoint definitions, incorporate into piloting of the template. Background: Why a Common Protocol Template? Guiding Principles – “Common” in a CPT: information always in the same place, means the same thing. – Is it better? Move beyond incremental improvements and current limitations. – It has to be better for everyone, but Investigators/Sites are the first priority. – A human readable template that paves the way for an automated solution and facilitates the use of data standards.
  • 5.
    Copyright ©2015 TransCelerateBioPharma Inc., All rights reserved. 5 Near Term Benefits to Sites • Protocols streamlined and organized with an investigator focus • Reduced burden on sites working on multiple studies The Common Protocol Template Potentially Benefits Many Stakeholders Sponsor Sites IRB Patient Regulator Near Term Benefits to Sponsors • Reduction in redundant protocol content • Enabling of therapeutic area standards • Improved conduct of the study and quality of data collected Potential Future Benefits to Sponsors • Automation of downstream processes and reuse of content • Enabling of therapeutic area standards in additional TAs • Enabling collaborative clinical trials Potential Future Benefits to Sites • Opportunity to harmonize additional documentation • Enable consistency of some case report forms Near Term Benefits to IRBs Increased consistency between sponsor protocols: easier review and faster approval Potential Future Benefits to IRBs Enabler for automation of IRBs submissions Near Term Benefits to Patients Increased efficiency / quality in clinical development for participants & future patients Potential Future Benefits to Patients • Improved access to protocol information • Getting medicines faster, for participants & future patients Near Term Benefits to Regulators • Protocols streamlined, increased consistency between sponsor protocols to ease review Potential Future Benefits to Regulators • Increased ease of data interpretation and ability to compare protocols (improves input on protocol design) • Increased use of data standards enabling end-to-end use of metadata and traceability Near Term Potential Future State
  • 6.
    Copyright ©2015 TransCelerateBioPharma Inc., All rights reserved. 6 • A common protocol template structure with proposed model language • Streamlined content enables identification of critical information for end users • Begin working towards common endpoint definitions to align with Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC) Therapeutic Area (TA) data standards. Asthma and Diabetes available in the first release. • Reconnect processes (protocol, eCRF, development) • Transformation of the design process o Analytics-driven trial design, modelling, scenario planning • Role-based access to protocol information (Principal Investigator [PI], Ethics, Participants) • Connection to other systems Common Protocol Template is Intended to Prepare for the Future State Human- Readable Protocol IRB/IECs Sites Regulators Foundation Machine- Readable Protocol Metadata driven processes Content Reuse Disclosure SAP CSR eCRF Statistical Output Future
  • 7.
    Copyright ©2015 TransCelerateBioPharma Inc., All rights reserved. 7 Current State/Future State: Establishing Our Direction Where we started… – Paper-based, manual processing Where we are… – Electronic, document based Where we should be… – Digital, Cloud-based, computable, re-usable Today • Manual processes and interventions • Duplication of company efforts • Disconnected interfaces • Lot of customization • Long cycle times • Variable quality • High costs • Rework • Patient-centric clinical trial design • Automated/seamless interfaces / parallel processing • Quality by design • Shorter cycle times • Cost efficient • “Integration of Data Analytics”Incremental Transformational
  • 8.
    Copyright ©2015 TransCelerateBioPharma Inc., All rights reserved. 8 Advisory Committee – Initial Development eProtocol Advisory Committee STAKEHOLDER FEEDBACK “…to inform the development of a common human readable and electronic protocol template and provide a forum for key stakeholders to inform future direction and provide know-how (Committee Charter)” “EMA has not agreed to take up a position on the Advisory Committee…..Happy to provide comments on any draft templates…” FDA 18-Mar-2016: “Today we’re announcing a draft clinical trial protocol template developed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) that should help with that. …..We are aware of other efforts in this area, including one undertaken by TransCelerate Biopharma Inc. (TransCelerate), which has issued a common protocol template intended to be the basis for a forthcoming electronic protocol. Although our initial target audiences differ, we plan to collaborate with groups like TransCelerate to help ensure consistency for the medical product development community.” Other Advisors or Influencers
  • 9.
    Copyright ©2015 TransCelerateBioPharma Inc., All rights reserved. 9 Further Development – Alignment of CPT with NIH Template – May 2017 • Rationale/Goal • Mutual desire to harmonize CPT and NIH templates – Acknowledged different audiences: NIH template targeted at single-center and investigator led studies; CPT targeted at multi-center studies. – Harmonizing templates will drive harmonization in resulting protocols regardless of template used • Alignment on all Level 1 headings, and most Level 2 headings. • Both CPT and NIH templates to be maintained, modifications made to each to achieve greatest harmonization • Updates Included • Revised order/placement of several sections – Where different Level 2 headings are required, they are placed after the common Level 2 headings. • Combined several sections • Harmonized terminology where applicable
  • 10.
    Copyright ©2015 TransCelerateBioPharma Inc., All rights reserved. 10 Value Proposition – Why Should Sponsors Adopt? Quality • The expertise of 18+ member companies has been tapped to develop the template – the work has been done for you. • The template includes TA –specific libraries based on sponsor best practices. • Sponsors will have the opportunity to suggest revisions, and the template will be maintained and updated over time. • Broad adoption will help drive greater efficiency for investigators, sites, sponsors, , and regulators. Efficiency • Sponsors can spend less time on low-value customization, and reduce time managing template maintenance. • The template is easy for authors to use. • Sponsors can adopt in a phased approach, and can choose to use either the Word version or Tech-Enabled version. You don’t have to go “all in” at the outset. Compliance • The template is supported by FDA, and Health Authority feedback to date has been unanimously positive. Quality + Efficiency + Compliance = Value Harmonization Value
  • 11.

Editor's Notes

  • #3 Legally approved 8-Apr-2017
  • #4 Legally approved 8-Apr-2017
  • #5  Legally approved 8-Apr-2017
  • #6 Legally approved 8-Apr-2017 The benefit of the Common Protocol Template (CPT) will be felt by the separate and inter-related groups, as illustrated here.  The first step is the CPT will be used to create protocols supplied by the sponsor to the Investigators.  The Investigator and the site staff will see the common protocol structure in use, ideally by multiple sponsors, with same information in the same section across multiple sponsors.  The use of the CPT is expected to enable the site staff to more quickly develop their required study documents and tools by saving time looking for specific sections in a protocol document.  Protocols written using the CPT will be sent to the IRBs and Regulators.  The same effect is expected; the IRBs and Regulators will find the same information in the same location in protocols written using the CPT across multiple sponsors.  Use of this CPT, is expected to ease and facilitate the IRB review of protocols. The use of the CPT is projected to potentially shorten the start-up at the sites and the review by the IRBs and Regulators who will be reviewing information in the same structure across multiple sponsors. This may result in the study starting sooner, with a benefit to the patient who may be waiting to enter a clinical study.
  • #7 Legally approved 8-Apr-2017 Progress to date includes the development of a human-readable template document. This will enable sites, reviewers, ethics committees and regulators to find the same information in the same place and have it mean the same thing. The template consists of a core of common content supported by a series of libraries appropriate for a given study type or disease area. Critical protocol level content has been aligned to the data standards project which is a collaboration between TransCelerate and Coalition for Accelerating Standards and Therapies (CFAST). The alignment of objectives, endpoints and procedures is a critical element of the document-based solution. This template paves the way to evolving to a machine-readable protocol - introducing the possibility of establishing the protocol as a digital platform with analytic trial design, role-based access to protocol information, etc. In both the document based environment as well as the digital environment it will be critical to reconnect certain processes and develop critical study components in parallel rather than serially (e.g. eCRF, Statistical Analysis Plan –SAP) At this time, the template core will support trials in any Therapeutic Area. As a first step toward enabling data standards, disease specific libraries have been created, with common endpoint definitions based on the CDISC Therapeutic Area User Guide (TAUG).
  • #8 Legally approved 8-Apr-2017
  • #9 Legally approved 8-Apr-2017 TransCelerate sponsored formation of the Electronic Protocol Advisory Committee to inform the development of a common human readable and electronic protocol template and provide a forum for key stakeholders to inform future direction and provide know-how. This Advisory Committee was designed to be similar to, but lighter version of, the Coalition for Accelerating Standards and Therapies (CFAST) structure. Input has been received from some eProtocol Advisory Committee members, and additional input is being requested. The intent is to promote “energy” around the idea of an eProtocol platform, and to drive alignment around end to end traceability, automation, and reuse. Through this Advisory Committee, TransCelerate workstreams will continue to get advice, and access to external “know-how.” The groups across the bottom of this slide are not directly involved in this Advisory Committee, but their outputs have been considered in developing the CPT, and their influence is considered via the other Advisory Committee channels. Tufts was consulted specifically regarding CPT project scope, priorities, and deliverables. The SPIRIT checklist was a key reference and influenced the creation of the text-based structure and content. A consultative meeting was held with the Budapest Working Group, with additional input pending. It is envisioned that additional advisors, such as HL7 and IHE, will be pursued as we move toward development of the machine-readable template
  • #11 Legally approved 8-Apr-2017