Three Topics Integral to the Use of the Internet for Clinical Trials: Connectivity, Communication, and Security
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THREE TOPICS INTEGRAL TO THE USE OF THE INTERNET FOR CLINICAL TRIALS: CONNECTIVITY, COMMUNICATION, AND SECURITY DAVIDI. HOPP,PHD Cat0 Creative Systems, Durham, North Carolina
This paper discusses three somewhat arbitrarily constructed topics integral to the use of the Internet, specijkally the Web,for clinical trials: connectivity, communication, and security. The discussion poses a set of considerations to be applied to each of these topics, forming a basis for realistic and successful implementation of Web-based techniques for the conduct of clinical trials. Key Words: Internet; World Wide Web; Clinical trials; Decision framework; System implementation
THE INTERNET HAS SHOWN value in almost every field of science, art, and industry ever since the World Wide Web, invented by Andreeson, Berners-Lee and their associates in the late 1980s, left the confines of the computing community and thrust the Internet upon the everyday world. The conceptual framework for this had already been laid out in the pioneering work of Bush in 1947, and in the incisive commentary of McLuhan in the 1960s and Nelson in the 1980s (1.2). These later years of the 1990s have been for the ‘down and dirty’ work required to realize the tantalizing potential of the Web. The promise of the Web for clinical trials lies primarily in its ubiquity. Inexpensive Web service is available almost everywhere in North America and Europe, and is steadily becoming so in many other parts of the world. Web browsers are easy to use and easy to obtain, which to a large extent reduces the
Reprint address: David I. Hopp, PhD, Cat0 Creative Systems, 4364 S. Alston Avc., Durham NC 27713. Email: [email protected]
traditional problems of providing and supporting special-purpose software installed at the many locations involved in trials. The Internet, as a public infrastructure, permits the speedy and inexpensivecreation of secure networks to connect trial sites, contract research organizations (CROs), sponsors, and other trial participants. This more rapid acquisition and distribution of clinical trial information provides the ability to do more in less time, and accordingly creates economic advantages for the clinical trial industry. This paper will discuss three somewhat arbitrarily constructed topics integral to the use of the Internet, specifically the Web, for clinical trials. The first is connectivity, the ability to establish and maintain the connections that permit information to be communicated. The second is communication, the ability to make use of information. The third is security, the ability to maintain the value of information. While these overlap substantially, they are convenient containers for discussion. The discussion here will concentrate on public networks, that is, the use of the public structure of the Internet as contrasted
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David I. Hopp
with private networks created from leased lines
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