Mayo Clinic takes the lead in clinical research data management

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic is making it easier for industry sponsors and investigators at sites across the country to collaborate with Mayo on complex and groundbreaking research studies and clinical trials.

In a move aimed at optimizing accuracy, speed and efficiency in clinical research, Mayo Clinic has implemented a front-line system of technology for electronic data capture and management, according to Gloria Petersen, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic associate dean for research informatics. "Mayo's Clinical Trials Management System (CTMS) will eliminate the duplication, delays and errors caused by manual data entry and multiple, disconnected data management systems that don't 'talk' to each other. When combined with Mayo Clinic's impressive array of clinical laboratory services and outstanding clinician-investigators, this new CTMS makes Mayo an ideal coordinating site for drug and device trials and large clinical research studies of all kinds. We're offering a full spectrum of new opportunities for Mayo investigators to work with sponsors and collaborators to conduct clinical research with Mayo Clinic — research that results in high-quality data that reliably support the development of new treatments for patients around the world."

"With support from the National Cancer Institute, Mayo's CTMS will be using an enterprise-wide clinical data management system — Medidata Rave® — to manage large, complex or multi-site clinical research studies," says Daniel Sargent, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic biostatistician and chair of Mayo's CTMS Oversight Committee. "While NCI is providing access to this data management system to NCI-supported not-for-profit organizations that conduct clinical research in the field of cancer, Mayo is taking it a step further by making our CTMS available to all researchers at Mayo, including both cancer and non-cancer studies."

Early adoption of this clinical data management system keeps Mayo Clinic well aligned with the direction of NCI, a major supporter of clinical trials. "Like many other funders, NCI is very interested in better integration of clinical trials across the country," says Dr. Sargent. "To facilitate integration, NCI is enabling all its cancer trial sites to adopt this clinical data management software package so multi-site trials can be managed efficiently. We see it as a win-win. Mayo was already well on the way to adopting this technology as the core of our CTMS; now this system can serve all our clinical research investigators, collaborators and sponsors, as well as supporting our role as a major cancer trial coordinating center."

Mayo Clinic is a leader among academic medical centers in implementation of this electronic data management technology. Pilot studies using the Mayo CTMS for Alzheimer's disease research, nicotine dependence research, and cancer clinical trials are scheduled through the remainder of 2010. Dr. Sargent anticipates implementing the Mayo CTMS across Mayo's research enterprise and collaborations with industry and academia during 2011.

Source: Mayo Clinic