APPI Joins Initiative to Transform Clinical Trials

APPI Joins Initiative to Transform Clinical Trials

Alexandria, Va.-The Academy of Pharmaceutical Physicians and Investigators (APPI), a nonprofit group of nearly 1,200 physician members involved in the clinical research enterprise, has joined the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI).

The CTTI was founded recently by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Duke University as a public-private partnership of organizations that seeks to improve the quality and efficiency of clinical trials in the United States. As described at https://www.trialstransformation.org, CTTI was formed in the wake of growing frustration among patients, consumers, the academic community, and industry over the difficulty of conducting high-quality clinical trials in a timely manner that could produce information physicians need to define optimal treatments for their patients.

“As the leaders of the clinical research teams that test the safety and efficacy of potential new drugs and devices, physician investigators are in the prime position to spearhead efforts to make the trials process work better,” says Charles M. Alexander, MD, FACP, FACE, president-elect of APPI. “Our goal in joining CTTI is to support its collaborative efforts on behalf of everyone from the human subject volunteers in clinical trials to the researchers to the patients who will benefit in the future from FDA-approved products.”

As a contributing member of CTTI, APPI will choose one representative from among its membership to serve on CTTI’s Steering Committee. The Steering Committee representative from APPI may nominate other individuals from within APPI to work on project teams or special interest groups, should they be formed.

APPI is an affiliate of the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP), an Alexandria, Va.-based nonprofit group with nearly 20,000 members worldwide from the clinical research team. Prior to its affiliation with ACRP in 2005, APPI had been known as the American Academy of Pharmaceutical Physicians. APPI has chapters in California, District of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, and is the certification body offering the Certified Physician Investigator (CPI™) examination.

For more information about APPI, please visit http://www.appinet.org.