Articles published in Clinical Research focusOne of the least discussed but most important news items of the past few months has been the new intake of European Commissioners beginning their 5-year term of office last month. Of particular significance for us is the move of the EU Pharmaceuticals Unit from DG Enterprise to DG Health & Consumers. This unit drives the regulatory environment that underpins everything we do in clinical research, and is also directly responsible for the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The key questions, though, are how lonhttp://www.icr-global.org/crfocus/2010/21-02/health-or-enterprise/Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:14:34 GMTTue, 09 Mar 2010 15:29:57 GMTTue, 09 Mar 2010 16:14:34 GMT6799At ICR, we are very busy now with the final preparations for our Annual Conference, taking place on April 19th and 20th. This has always been our major annual event and, despite difficult times, it remains so. We made some radical changes to the conference last year, but this year the changes are even bigger and we hope that you will benefit from them. Please come along to this year’s Annual Conference; we believe that the changes we have made will make this event a very special one.http://www.icr-global.org/crfocus/2010/21-02/come-to-the-icr-annual-conference/Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:25:24 GMTTue, 09 Mar 2010 15:21:06 GMTTue, 09 Mar 2010 15:25:24 GMT6798Following a recent comparison survey conducted by CK Clinical, which researched the attitudes of jobseekers in the pharmaceutical industry in January compared to that of July 2009, it seems respondents generally feel the wider economy is on the mend. However, at grassroots level, employees in the pharmaceutical industry are starting to feel the bite of the recession. Catherine Gutsell interprets the results of the survey.http://www.icr-global.org/crfocus/2009/20-12/employee-confidence-survey/Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:05:08 GMTMon, 21 Dec 2009 16:54:56 GMTTue, 22 Dec 2009 11:05:08 GMT6329The Clinical Trial Administrator Special Interest Group (CTA SIG) is proud to announce the launch of a CTA Manual, written for CTAs by CTAs, to serve as a centralised reference document for CTAs throughout the industry. This document contains essential background information, covering topics such as the structure of a typical clinical department, industry-related acronyms, some of the key roles and responsibilities of a CTA and a snapshot of relevant areas of clinical research and its processes.http://www.icr-global.org/crfocus/2009/20-12/cta-manual/Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:39:19 GMTMon, 21 Dec 2009 16:35:27 GMTMon, 21 Dec 2009 16:39:18 GMT6328Questions submitted to the ICR GCP Forum are sometimes discussed by the Steering Group between meetings, and in the case of this query, relating to the informed consent and safety reporting issues raised by the partner of a clinical trial subject becoming pregnant, the team thought that it would be beneficial to share their thoughts with readers of CRfocus rather than wait until the next Forum meeting.http://www.icr-global.org/crfocus/2009/20-12/gcp-discussion/Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:30:57 GMTMon, 21 Dec 2009 16:27:02 GMTMon, 21 Dec 2009 16:30:57 GMT6326A clinical research freelancer’s life can be a bit solitary at times, so the annual ICR Freelance Forum provides a much-appreciated opportunity for freelancers to socialise and network with colleagues, and to learn from each other and from invited speakers. This year’s forum took place on November 3rd at the ICR headquarters in Bourne End. Topics reported by Danielle include records management, MHRA inspection of freelancers, surrogate biomarkers and the impact of clinical research networks.http://www.icr-global.org/crfocus/2009/20-12/freelance-forum/Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:20:55 GMTMon, 21 Dec 2009 16:16:52 GMTMon, 21 Dec 2009 16:20:55 GMT6325We present our regular index of all articles published in CRfocus during 2009. Nearly 100 articles have covered a wide variety of topics throughout this year. Under difficult trading conditions, we have taken the opportunity to increase the proportion of editorial pages by around 10% so as a reader you are getting more concentrated value from your ICR membership. Don’t forget, one of the many benefits of ICR membership is that you also have full access to our online archive, containing almost every article http://www.icr-global.org/crfocus/2009/20-12/2009-article-index/Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:18:14 GMTWed, 16 Dec 2009 12:50:43 GMTWed, 16 Dec 2009 15:18:13 GMT6303A regular feature of the end of the year in Clinical Research focus is our ‘crystal ball’ article, in which ‘movers and shakers’ and other key observers look into the future to tell us what they expect, or hope, to see changing over the coming years.http://www.icr-global.org/crfocus/2009/20-12/aspirations-expectations/Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:39:14 GMTWed, 16 Dec 2009 12:24:38 GMTWed, 16 Dec 2009 12:39:14 GMT6302