“Vaccine research is an area that has huge potential, not only from the increasing pipeline and focus on vaccine development from our pharmaceutical clients, but also on the ability to save lives and bring huge benefits to society,”Clare Grace, PhD, Vice President, Site and Patient Access, INC Research, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.
Additionally, INC said it recognizes the need for new and improved vaccines as the industry works to combat emerging infections, such as Ebola and the Zika virus.
“Vaccine studies are fast-paced and require highly experienced sites to deal with the unique challenges they bring,” added Grace.
Specifically, she explained that most sites aren’t able to cope with the numbers of patients often dosed on the same day, patient visit scheduling, and data entry, which she said is a huge logistical challenge.
“When you have 100 patients scheduled for dosing on one day, there is no room for error,” Grace explained.
The new network includes 40 clinical research sites to participate in the initial launch, all of which Grace said were chosen by an extensive process.
“We assessed the experience of the sites, their ability to partner effectively with both INC and each other as one team to support the goals of the Catalyst program and the development of new vaccines,” she explained.
According to Grace, with the Catalyst network INC is able to condense the project start-up timelines to 30 days from final protocol to sites active to enroll.
The company will be looking to expand the network to include sites in other countries and also building other Catalyst Networks in oncology and other indications.