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ReGARDD (Regulatory Guidance for Academic Research of Drugs and Devices): The evolution of a collaborative regional CTSA-funded forum and website for regulatory support

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2021

Kimberly A. Brownley*
Affiliation:
North Carolina Translational & Clinical Sciences Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USADepartment of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Marie Rape
Affiliation:
North Carolina Translational & Clinical Sciences Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Amanda Wood
Affiliation:
North Carolina Translational & Clinical Sciences Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Gaurav Dave
Affiliation:
North Carolina Translational & Clinical Sciences Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USADepartment of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Chad Henderson
Affiliation:
North Carolina Translational & Clinical Sciences Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Diana Severynse-Stevens
Affiliation:
Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International, Durham, NC, USA
Mike Zmuda
Affiliation:
Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International, Durham, NC, USA
Diane Earp
Affiliation:
Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International, Durham, NC, USA
Carmella Moody
Affiliation:
Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International, Durham, NC, USA
Issis Kelly-Pumarol
Affiliation:
Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
Joseph Andrews
Affiliation:
Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
Kristen M. Foss
Affiliation:
Office of Regulatory Affairs and Quality, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
Stephanie Fraser
Affiliation:
Office of Regulatory Affairs and Quality, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
Erika Segear
Affiliation:
Office of Regulatory Affairs and Quality, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
Amanda B. Parrish
Affiliation:
Office of Regulatory Affairs and Quality, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
*
Address for correspondence: K.A. Brownley, Ph.D., North Carolina Translational & Clinical Sciences Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. Email: Kim_Brownley@med.unc.edu
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Abstract

Availability of trained professionals to assist researchers navigating regulatory pathways for new drug and device development is limited within academic institutions. We created ReGARDD (Regulatory Guidance for Academic Research of Drugs and Devices), a regional forum initially involving regulatory professionals from four Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA)-funded institutions, to build and capitalize on local expertise and to develop a regulatory guidance website geared toward academic researchers. Since 2015, members organized 15 forums covering topics such as FDA premarket submissions, gene therapy, and intellectual property for devices and therapeutics. Through user feedback, targeted surveys, and ongoing iterative processes, we refined and maintained a shared regulatory website, which reached 6000+ users in 2019. Website updates improved navigation to drug versus device topic areas, provided new educational content and videos to address commonly asked questions, and created a portal for posting upcoming training opportunities. Survey respondents rated the website favorably and endorsed expanding ReGARDD as a centralized resource. ReGARDD strengthened the regional regulatory workforce, increased regulatory efficiency, and promulgated best organizational and operational practices. Broad-scale deployment of the ReGARDD model across the CTSA consortium may facilitate the creation of a network of regional forums and reduce gaps in access to regulatory support.

Information

Type
Special Communications
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - SA
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the same Creative Commons licence is included and the original work is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Association for Clinical and Translational Science
Figure 0

Fig. 1.Example of decision tree on the ReGARDD website.

Figure 1

Table 1.Examples of content on the ReGARDD website

Figure 2

Table 2.Yearly website metrics

Figure 3

Table 3.Top Pageviews

Figure 4

Table 4.Communication & dissemination methods