TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION


IRT in clinical trials: what to add to your shopping list


IRT software systems can make or break a clinical trial.  provider, writes Reynald Castañeda.


I


nteractive response technology (IRT) is at the heart of clinical trials: the software system is used to randomise patients and


manage the study supply chain. IRT should be used by default for any trial from the  enabled services vice president Craig Mooney  from an IRT to track patients, he adds. Trial sponsors and contract research


 since the mid-1990s, so most kinks have been worked out, Mooney says. Consequently,    is erroneous, it can make a trial invalid, says       post-trial study report, adds Sharp IRT services    


IRT randomises patients and directs supply There are two key elements to IRT. First, it is a   randomisation, says Suvoda co-founder and   trial arm, and keeps the studies blinded, Kole explains.  the clinical trial supply chain. “Trials need the


30 | Clinical Trial Supply Handbook


       and expiry dates, are then loaded onto the IRT, says Natalie Townsend, vice president,      requirements, Kole adds.   can be sent. IRT allows supply traceability   accountability in terms of what inventory is   Louis Minham. “Essentially, IRT systems automate what


otherwise would have been based on paper or 


IRT forecasting critical   to the site is a critical step. There are predictive and non-predictive    site needs for future patient visits, he explains. The patient has a schedule, and the IRT makes sure there is supply for those visits, he adds. To enable a non-predictive method, sites


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