High turnover and protocol noncompliance continue to plague the global investigative site landscape, says Tufts CSDD

Global clinical trial performance and efficiency are hampered by high turnover and noncompliance among principal investigators and wide variation in investigative site experience, according to a recently completed assessment by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development.

While the number of investigators globally now stands at nearly 40,000, a record, half of them were new to the job in 2013, the most recent year for which data are available, according to Tufts CSDD. In addition, although the highest turnover rates are observed among the least active investigators, turnover rates have been getting progressively worse among more active investigators.

At the same time, protocol noncompliance, the most common performance deficiency and one that has grown the fastest during the past decade, accounted for 46% of all investigative site deficiencies, Tufts CSDD said.