14 Sep How Clinical Trial Supply Management Systems Improve Inventory Visibility?
A research organization can have multiple sites in different cities. Each site may participate in clinical trials and have its own inventory, patients, investigational products, shipments, consumption rate, and resupply requirements. For effective study and research, the availability of investigational products at the right site, at the right time, and in the right capacity is crucial. However, manual spreadsheets, disconnected systems, and delayed reporting can make it difficult to manage clinical trial inventory. It is difficult to determine how much stock is available, where it is located, and when additional supplies will be required across multiple sites, countries, depots, and stakeholders. Here is where a clinical trial supply management system comes into play. According to the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), proper management of investigational products during clinical trials is a regulatory requirement — investigators must maintain accurate records of the disposition of all investigational drugs, and supply chain failures can jeopardize both participant safety and data integrity.