Essential Documents are those documents which individually and collectively permit evaluation of the conduct of a trial and the quality of the data produced. These documents serve to demonstrate the compliance of the investigator, sponsor and monitor with the standards of Good Clinical Practice and with all applicable regulatory requirements.
Essential Documents also serve a number of other important purposes. Filing essential documents at the investigator/institution and sponsor sites in a timely manner can greatly assist in the successful management of a trial by the investigator, sponsor and monitor. These documents are also the ones which are usually audited by the sponsor’s independent audit function and inspected by the regulatory authorities as part of the process to confirm the validity of the trial conduct and the integrity of data collected.
The minimum list of essential documents which has been developed follows. The various documents are grouped in three sections according to the stage of the trial during which they will normally be generated:
1) Before the clinical phase of the trial commences
2) During the clinical conduct of the trial
3) After completion or termination of the trial.
A description is given of the purpose of each document, and whether it should be filed in either the investigator/institution or sponsor files, or both. It is acceptable to combine some of the documents, provided the individual elements are readily identifiable.
Trial master files should be established at the beginning of the trial, both at the investigator/institution’s site and at the sponsor’s office. A final close-out of a trial can only be done when the monitor has reviewed both investigator/institution and sponsor files and confirmed that all necessary documents are in the appropriate files.
Any or all of the documents addressed in this guideline may be subject to, and should be available for, audit by the sponsor’s auditor and inspection by the regulatory authorities.
Essential Documents regulations is one of the topics that are covered in our FREE ICH GCP Training. The course is sponsored by the Better Industry Initiative and is a compilation of the International Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guidelines, as presented in “Guideline for Good Clinical Practice E6 (R1)” document by the International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH). The course provides access to the official guidelines in a well-structured and user friendly way. Learn more: Free Good Clinical Practice
