The Revised Common Rule and Informed Consent: Public Posting
Public Posting
An important provision in the Revised Common Rule is the requirement to post, to a publicly-available federal Web site, a copy of an IRB-approved version of the consent form that was used for enrollment purposes for each clinical trial conducted or supported by a federal department or agency. The Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) has identified two publicly available federal websites that will satisfy the consent form posting requirement in the revised Common Rule: http://ClinicalTrials.gov and a docket folder on http://Regulations.gov. It is possible that additional sites may be identified in the future.
The consent form will need to have an up-front concise and focused presentation of the key information as required by 46.116(a)(5).
The specific requirement is that an IRB-approved consent form that was used for enrollment purposes be posted. There is no requirement to post multiple forms for multicenter studies, or for a study that has separate consent forms for different subject groups (e.g., adults versus pediatric participants). Also, for consent forms that underwent revision over the course of the study, the final rule does not stipulate that the posted document be the most recently approved version.
The posting can take place any time after the clinical trial is closed to recruitment, and no later than 60 days after the last study visit by any subject, as required by the protocol. Information that should not be made available on a federal website, as determined by the federal department or agency supporting or conducting the clinical trial, can be redacted.
The purpose of the new provision is to increase transparency, which some feel will lead to improved consent form quality. The commentary to the Final Rule, describes how having an easily accessible repository of such forms freely available for analysis and public discussion will foster public discussion and create multiple opportunities for improving these forms, and thereby improve one of the most important aspects of our human subjects protections system.
For More On The Revised Common Rule and Informed Consent, see our previous article on Consent Waivers
https://www.brany.com/the-revised-common-rule-and-informed-consent-consent-waivers/
