As Steve Powell mentioned in his CEO letter, patients are waiting and never has the public need been more urgent. In February, Synteract was awarded a full-service COVID-19 clinical trial, to be conducted in Europe. Immediately post-award, we began work on initiating a rapid study start-up pathway.

Striving to meet the urgent need, we’ve been working on an expedited study execution plan. Although all involved parties are very experienced in clinical research, we are coping with unprecedented challenges including whether or not:

• patient visits can be ensured
• overall sufficient resources are available despite the risk of uncertainty
• patients’ safety can be guaranteed

Also under close consideration:

• the safe and efficient performance of SDV and monitoring activities
• proper planning to achieve tight timelines to speed up the urgently required drug development

Our team was able to accelerate study start-up partially due to the fact that our existing relationships with the sites allowed for collaborative exchange, and to perform reviews and clarifications efficiently. Maintaining flexibility, ensuring quality performance, and assuring the delivery of innovative thinking, we will continue to provide advanced solutions to sustain the sponsor’s milestones and successfully execute the study.

As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve, we remain committed to working on both sides of the issue – vaccines and treatments.