One of the ways that Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) is encouraging pathbreaking digital health innovation is through its new Clinical Research Innovation Consortium (CRIC). This pioneering initiative aims to transform the landscape of clinical research through global collaborations involving technology and innovation.
Introducing CRIC
At CRIC, our mission is to leverage MSK’s position to lead the global healthcare sector in innovation and scalability within the global clinical research space. We are building a consortium dedicated to developing novel solutions that address significant challenges in clinical research—benefitting patients, academic medical centers, research sites, clinicians, sponsors, and regulatory bodies.
Guided by our core principles, CRIC is committed to fostering innovation excellence, promoting data-driven insights, making strategic investments in internal and external technology, and providing regulatory guidance to enhance clinical research practices. Our focus runs the gamut from creating an environment to test innovative technologies and leveraging MSK’s robust clinical research portfolio, to influencing regulatory policies that elevate the standards of clinical research.
CRIC aims to establish a framework for validating and scaling clinical research technology that will result in:
- Increasing operational efficiency by decreasing overhead costs and achieving other efficiencies with technology, processes, and strategies that may be implemented at other institutions.
- Expanding patient access with an institutional commitment to global health equity through novel trial design including digital innovations and decentralized trials.
- Implementing advanced data analytics methodologies and utilizing AI, machine learning, and data visualization to curate data and derive actionable insights from research data.
- Improving decision-making processes in clinical research to empower researchers, stakeholders, and patients with meaningful information to drive advancements with lasting impact.
- Establishing partnerships with regulatory bodies to develop and implement regulations and standards for clinical research.
Our Clinical Research Advantage
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) stands at the forefront of clinical research. As a leader in global cancer care and innovation, we are committed to being a significant partner in the effort to transform clinical research to better support health equity, operational and financial efficiencies, healthcare delivery, and improved outcomes for patients around the world.
MSK clinical research operations include an extensive portfolio with nearly 2,000 active research studies. These studies involve 400+ sponsors and internal investigators with over 5,000 therapeutic accruals annually.
Since 2019, MSK’s relentless pursuit of innovative cancer treatments has resulted in the approval of more than 30 FDA-approved drugs, underscoring our commitment to advancing cancer care. This is an extraordinary achievement, and it is a testament to comprehensive resources, expertise, and support that we bring to every clinical study that we are involved with.
Our leadership in the clinical research space is not only evident in the volume and impact of our studies but also in our pioneering use of cutting-edge technologies. MSK’s reputation as a trailblazer in innovation attracts industry peers who look to us for guidance and leadership in shaping the future of cancer research and treatment.
Learn more about MSK’s CRIC initiative, an important next step in our pursuit of clinical research excellence and impact.
Project Selection and Implementation
At CRIC, our focus is on assessing opportunities, piloting potential solutions, validating their effectiveness, and then scaling them across MSK—with the goal of eventually bringing successfully tested strategies and solutions to industry, providers, digital health organizations, and other participants in the global healthcare sector.
- Our process begins with rigorous evaluation of potential partnerships and collaborations. Opportunities presented from various sources will be assessed for innovation, fit, and deal viability. We also conduct a significant appraisal of any potential industry partner, including strengths and/or possible drawbacks.
- Opportunities are examined against the current clinical trial ecosystem (both within MSK and throughout the larger industry). Each opportunity is evaluated extensively to ensure compatibility with MSK’s goals and CRIC’s resources.
- Once a promising opportunity is identified, it undergoes a pilot phase, typically lasting for three-to-six months, during which time the opportunity is tested at MSK.
- The success of any pilot is measured against predetermined key performance indicators (KPIs).
- If KPIs are met, the solution is then scaled-up within MSK, facilitating its broader implementation and impact.
The ultimate goal is to prepare and introduce successful initiatives into the global clinical research ecosystem. We will pursue this by leveraging our institutional global reach as well as MSK industry collaborations committed to clinical research innovation.
Our Collaboration Partners
MSK’s CRIC initiative is a collaborative effort involving a wide range of stakeholders, including community and academic sites, pharmaceutical companies, patients, regulators, and MSK investigators and clinicians. We are working together to transform the landscape of clinical research, including care delivery, clinical trial operations, data management and reporting, and much more.
At CRIC, our objective is to leverage MSK’s robust clinical trials program to address internal pain points with innovative technology and process—while also identifying and alleviating common industry challenges. Working together with cutting-edge organizations around the globe, we seek to enable clinical research to happen more efficiently, affordably, equitably, accurately—all in the interests of best serving patients.
Learn more about our collaboration partners:
IgniteData and MSK
Collaboration focus: Meaningful improvement to the process of data collection for cancer research by reducing the requirement for time-consuming data duplication and source data verification (SDV).
Collaboration launched: 2023
Company Overview
IgniteData is transforming the future of clinical trials through its cloud-based Virtual Research Assistant, Archer. A system-agnostic solution, Archer brings modern interoperability between EHR and key research systems, such as EDC, to provide seamless, secure transfer of clinically-validate data for clinical trials.
Problems We’re Solving
IgniteData’s system-agnostic electronic data transfer technology, Archer, eliminates the need for researchers to manually transcribe data such as vital signs and labs, domains that typically account for as much as 50% of total data required. Archer’s purpose-built Smart Mapping Engine matches site and sponsor ontologies and normalizes complex healthcare data. The solution enables research staff to rapidly transfer existing regulatory-grade data from the EHR to the sponsor’s study database, eliminating data entry errors, and significantly reducing SDV and query resolution time. Scalable by design, Archer is purpose-built for multi-site trials, multiple users, different hospital systems, and complex data collection requirements.
“We are excited to collaborate with IgniteData given our shared goal of unlocking the power of EHR data for use in clinical research,” said Joe Lengfellner, Senior Director, Clinical Research Informatics at MSK. “This collaboration aspires to automate the routine tasks performed by our research teams and quicken the pace of clinical trial execution, driving us toward our ultimate goal of changing how the world treats cancer through research.”
Working with MSK
“Today, a typical phase 3 oncology study generates an average of 3.6 million data points. More than half of this eSource data already exists in patients’ electronic medical records, yet it is still being painstakingly transcribed into study databases, burdening research staff and creating inefficiencies and delays, said IgniteData’s CEO and Co-founder, Dan Hydes. “As pioneers of EHR-to-EDC data interoperability, and in collaboration with MSK’s Innovation Hub, we are proud to lead the drive to solve the clinical trial data challenge and accelerate the pace of clinical trial digital transformation alongside the world’s leading cancer center.”
Next Steps
As the IgniteData/MSK collaboration continues to yield favorable results and expand across a growing number of MSK-based clinical trials, this project has transitioned to CRIC in 2024. As a participating initiative in the CRIC consortium, this collaboration will expand to a broader scope of clinical trials utilizing the Archer platform technology.
Work with Us
As an external partner, whether you represent a pharmaceutical company, regulatory body, startup, research site, or other third-party entity, we invite you to explore collaboration opportunities with CRIC.
Together, we can navigate the future of clinical research, contribute to innovative methodologies, and shape the standards that drive progress in the industry.
Connect with us to explore how your organization can be a part of CRIC’s mission to revolutionize clinical research and make a lasting impact on patient outcomes.
Contact Us
For more information about CRIC, or to propose a potential collaboration, contact Aashka Shah, MHA, Lead Program Manager, CRIC, MSK at [email protected].