Baybionotes provided a short update this month regarding the implementation of recent legislation expanding the obligations of clinical trial sponsors to submit information regarding their trials to the federal data bank. 

Author Robert Church of Hogan & Hartson LLP discussed the legislation as follows:

Title VIII of the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 expands the federal registry in several important ways. First, it is no longer limited to trials of drugs intended to treat serious or life-threatening diseases, but rather requires registration of all clinical trials other than Phase I and requires significantly more content. As of December 26, new data points for initial registration became required, even reaching back to include some clinical investigations that began before the law was passed.

The NIH has also been directed to expand ClinicalTrials.gov to include trial results. By this fall, sponsors will have to submit results information about approved products. Soon thereafter, adverse event data will be required on the site as well. Still more, the law requires the promulgation of regulations by September 2010, further expanding the results database “to provide more complete results information and to enhance patient access to and understanding of the results of clinical trials.”

What are the penalties for failure to comply with the new legislation?  According to Church, the penalities are as follows:

Not only will failure to submit the required information in a timely fashion be posted on ClinicalTrials.gov, but sponsors may also face civil fines up to $10,000 for all violations adjudicated in a single proceeding. If noncompliance continues thirty days after notice, the fine may be increased $10,000 each day until the matter is resolved.