TTC Survey Reports on Latin American Physicians’ Attitudes toward Clinical Trials

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) September 26, 2011 -- Latin America’s population is quickly expanding in the hundreds of millions, and with this rapid increase, it will continue to be a highly attractive growth market for pharmaceutical products. As the demand for prescription drugs increase, it will be essential for global pharmaceutical companies to conduct clinical trials in Latin America. A key factor in developing a clinical trial strategy and tactic is knowing what motivates investigators to participate.

For this survey, TTC polled Latin American physicians and sites and compared the results with survey results for US investigators. TTC’s research examined why investigators choose to take part in clinical research, and what challenges they saw in conducting studies. TTC drew its data from commercially funded clinical trials in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela.

Key TTC Survey Findings

Medical Innovation: TTC found that Latin American investigators, and their US counterparts, rate the opportunity to take part in medical innovation as the primary reason for participating in commercially-funded clinical research. In Latin America, financial considerations, while important, are secondary to the opportunity to be part of medical innovation.

Clinical Sites: Compared with the US, most Latin American clinical research takes place in hospitals. Unlike the US, few Latin American investigators work in private practice, and they conduct a far larger percentage of their clinical research at dedicated sites.

Project Sponsorship: When compared with US investigators, Latin American investigators place a high value on sponsorship by a major pharmaceutical company. Half of the study’s Latin American investigators indicated that their level of confidence in other drugs already on the market from the sponsor company was very important, especially if the sponsor company was both large and multinational.

Comparable Areas of Dissatisfaction: TTC’s survey found that Latin American and US investigators concurred on a number of areas in which they found clinical trials troublesome. These areas included such financial related activities as tracking clinical trial costs against the budget, accurately forecasting the study budget, followed by reporting serious adverse events (SAE), and the amount spent on site by the study monitor.

Harold Glass (TTC Principal):

“Latin America represents for many companies an under used area for conducting clinical research. It is important we understand what motivates Latin American investigators to take part in clinical trials, and what these investigators find most challenging in conducting clinical research.”

About GrantPlan® and TTC, LLC

GrantPlan®, a product of TTC, LLC, is the largest database of current clinical investigator budgets. With five distinctive database products, TTC has the largest current database of investigator site budgets from 60 countries. TTC combines a strong financial base, a global reach, and an experienced team of customer-focused professionals proud to serve the industry in managing costs and expediting clinical trials. GrantPlan® contains extensive cost data at the Procedure, Cost per Visit, and Cost per Patient levels from countries involved in drug testing throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. For more information please visit http://www.ttc-llc.com.

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