'You can save time if…'—A qualitative study on internal factors slowing down clinical trials in Sub-Saharan Africa

摘要

BackgroundThe costs, complexity, legal requirements and number of amendments associated with clinical trials are rising constantly, which negatively affects the efficient conduct of trials. In Sub-Saharan Africa, this situation is exacerbated by capacity and funding limitations, which further increase the workload of clinical trialists. At the same time, trials are critically important for improving public health in these settings. The aim of this study was to identify the internal factors that slow down clinical trials in Sub-Saharan Africa. Here, factors are limited to those that exclusively relate to clinical trial teams and sponsors. These factors may be influenced independently of external conditions and may significantly increase trial efficiency if addressed by the respective teams.