Schulman IRB Partners with the National Biomedical Research Ethics Council to Improve Research Efficiencies and Protocol Design Quality

CINCINNATI and DURHAM, N.C., June 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to the U.S. National Alzheimer's Project Act and the recent NIH mandate for single IRB review in multisite clinical trials, the National Biomedical Research Ethics Council (NBREC), a Nevada-based 501(c) non-profit, and Schulman IRB, the industry's leading central IRB for customer service and technology, have forged an alliance to improve the quality and efficiency of Alzheimer's disease clinical research.

This alliance enhances the regulatory ethics review requirement with the addition of an expert scientific review committee (SRC). The addition of the SRC will provide early identification of potential areas of improvement in study design that will minimize study delays and the need for costly protocol amendments.

"The alliance will provide a combination of experience, expertise, and quality of review unmatched among central IRB service providers," said Ara Khachaturian, Chair and President of NBREC. "The enterprise integrates the ethics review platform, organization and resources of Schulman IRB—one of the oldest and most reputable centralized research ethics review boards—with the international network of neurodegenerative disease experts and support from global patient advocacy groups that support NBREC."

The alliance aims to improve research volunteer participation in Alzheimer's disease trials, and increase efficiencies in the conduct of large-scale multi-site trials. The partnership will also serve as an international model for trans-national interventional studies of Alzheimer's, dementia and other neurodegenerative disease. 

"The Schulman team is honored to partner with NBREC in this unique venture," said Eli Alford, COO at Schulman IRB. "By combining Schulman's unmatched efficiency and IRB expertise with NBREC's network of neurodegenerative disease key opinion leaders and educational outreach programs, we hope to make a significant contribution to science's understanding of Alzheimer's disease, and the diagnosis, prevention, and eventual cure of this and other neurological disorders."

Schulman and NBREC are currently developing the systems and processes to support the SRC-IRB integration and expect to make these services available in summer 2017.

About Schulman IRB
Schulman IRB has been a leader in the protection of human research participants in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada since 1983. Schulman offers thorough, timely IRB review services – including dedicated review capabilities for all phases of research across all therapeutic areas – to clinical trial sponsors, CROs, investigators and institutions. Schulman also provides global consulting services in clinical quality assurance (CQA) and human research protections (HRP), and it offers a commercial institutional biosafety committee (IBC) service. Fully accredited by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP), Schulman has an unparalleled clean audit history with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

For more information, please visit http://www.sairb.com or follow @SchulmanIRB on Twitter or on LinkedIn.

About NBREC
Established in 2012 as a Nevada-based 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, the National Biomedical Research Ethics Council (NBREC) is committed to the goals of assuring individual research volunteer safety through the expanded use of single ethics committees, expanding international awareness for research ethics and improving population public health efforts allied with disease surveillance and control.

For more information, please visit http://nbrec.org/.

SOURCE Schulman IRB

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