Clinical trials are research studies that assess the effects of healthcare interventions in people. They are the best way to assess the safety and benefits of new forms of treatment and prevention, like a new drug or medical device. The use of routinely collected healthcare systems data has the potential to make clinical trials more efficient but to date it has been rarely in this type of research.
The Transforming Data for Trials Programme will transform access to, and the utility, analysis and understanding of healthcare systems data to enable its use in clinical trials – providing research teams with the same reliable outcomes with less effort and reduced costs. The programme will equip the clinical trials community with the skills and technical solutions needed to work effectively with healthcare systems data, across both academic and industry-led trials.
In the longer term, the programme outputs will also allow updated decisions by trial sponsors and funders on how trials and trial teams might be better structured and funded in the future with more efficiency and lower costs, while maintaining, or improving, the quality of trials.