Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine and O'Brien Institute for Public Health, University of Calgary, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB T2N 4Z6, Canada.
Department of Economics, University of Calgary, 527 Campus Place NW, Calgary, AB T2N 4Z6, Canada.
Drug Discov Today. 2020 Oct;25(10):1801-1806. doi: 10.1016/j.drudis.2020.08.001. Epub 2020 Aug 7.
The clinical trial landscape for Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) is radically different from that of previous epidemics. Compared with H1N1, Ebola, and Zika, COVID-19 had an order of magnitude more clinical trials within the first 3 months following the declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). These trials have started much faster, are more geographically diverse, and are less likely to be funded by industry. However, the almost simultaneous design and initiation of hundreds of trials with 0.3 million participants across 78 countries creates the potential for congestion and inefficiencies and enhances risks for investors. Thus, an international coordination mechanism for clinical trials could be valuable in this and other situations.
2019 年冠状病毒（COVID-19）的临床试验格局与以往的传染病大不相同。与 H1N1、埃博拉和寨卡病毒相比，在宣布国际关注的突发公共卫生事件（PHEIC）后的头 3 个月内，COVID-19 的临床试验数量增加了一个数量级。这些试验启动得更快，地域分布更加多样化，而且不太可能由行业资助。然而，在 78 个国家/地区同时设计和启动数百项临床试验，涉及 30 万名参与者，这可能会导致拥挤和效率低下，并增加投资者的风险。因此，在这种情况下和其他情况下，临床试验的国际协调机制可能具有价值。
