Regulatory compliance and readability of informed consent forms in industry-sponsored drug development clinical trials

Abstract

Background/Aims An informed consent form is essential in drug development clinical trials. This study aimed to evaluate regulatory compliance and readability of informed consent forms currently being used in industry-sponsored drug development clinical trials. Methods This descriptive, cross-sectional study evaluated the informed consent forms of industry-sponsored drug development clinical trials conducted at the Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, between 2019 and 2020. The informed consent form’s compliance with the three major ethical guidelines and regulations (i.e. International Council for Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use E6(R2) Good Clinical Practice; Declaration of Helsinki; and the revised Common Rule) were analyzed. The document length and the readability scores (using Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Reading Grade) were assessed. Results Of 64 reviewed informed consent forms, the average page length was 22.0 ± 7.4 pages. More than half of their length was mainly devoted to three elements: trial procedures (22.9%), risks and discomforts (19.1%), and confidentiality and the limit of confidentiality (10.1%). Although most of the required elements of the informed consent form content were included in most informed consent forms, we identified four elements with often missing information in the form: aspects of research that are experimental (n = 43, 67.2%), involvement of whole-genome sequencing (n = 35, 54.7%), commercial profit sharing (n = 31, 48.4%), and posttrial provisions (n = 28, 43.8%). Conclusion The informed consent forms in industry-sponsored drug development clinical trials were long but incomplete. Our findings draw attention to ongoing challenges in industry-sponsored drug development clinical trials, where deficient informed consent form quality continues to exist.