Certified training is mandatory for most activities in drug development for staff at sponsors, trial sites, vendors or regulatory agencies. A wide range of online and in-person courses exist. The following lists some established providers we have used for training colleagues in the past and a list of strongly recommended complementary reading (think of “most important references used in the series”):
Manufacturing: Video on the 10 principles of GMP (not strongly recommended, but it’s OK; note that it’s not certified)
Quality Assurance: Good overview of quality management systems by one QMS vendor (not certified):
Pre-clinical: This is a solid GLP resource (not certified)
Clinical Trials:
- Excellent resource for an overview of clinical trial documents by smartsheets.
- Basic training: Global Health Training Centre: Free high-quality courses on basic topics such as GCP, Data Management, Adverse Event Management and much more.
- Advanced Training: Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP): Paid courses cover a wide range of topics, including advanced courses on quality management, event reporting, etc.
Complementary reading to the Drug development Series :
- General
- Research and Development in the Pharmaceutical Industry, Congressional Budget Office
- Costs and barriers to drug development by the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
- A History of the FDA and Drug Regulation in the United States
- Manufacturing
- COVID-19 and Beyond: Oversight of the FDA’s Foreign Drug Manufacturing Inspection Process (provides a good overview of FDA inspections)
- Clinical trials
- ICH efficacy guidelines: Particularly E6:GCP
- Why are clinical trials so complicated? Short article from the Science Magazine
- Study other sponsor’s clinical trial protocols, informed consents, and investigator’s brochures
Other articles in this series