Clinical trials must comply with many requirements that do not apply to other types of human subjects research. These requirements are designed to address the increased participant vulnerability and risks of many clinical trials compared with other research. They are also meant to ensure meaningful results.
Federal agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), require information about clinical trials to be placed in the public database called (CT.gov). Specifically, the trials must be registered in the CT.gov when they begin. The PRS study record must be updated throughout the study and study results must be reported when the study ends. Significant penalties can be applied by the agencies if these requirements are not met 鈥 including loss of an investigator鈥檚 ongoing or pending grant funding.
A 91探花Principal Investigator (PI) may be designated as the Responsible Party for ClinicalTrials.gov registration and results reporting only if they are conducting the trial, have control over the data, and have been formally delegated this role by the sponsor or awardee. In multi-center trials, the lead sponsor or lead PI is typically responsible. For industry-sponsored trials, the sponsor is usually responsible. For NIH-funded trials, the primary awardee must ensure compliance. The holder of any IND, IDE, or HDE is also responsible under FDA regulations.
91探花studies reviewed by the Fred Hutchinson IRB
For clinical trials where the 91探花PI is the responsible party and a Cancer Consortium member, the will: (1) assist with registration and (2) provide support with subsequent record updates and results reporting questions.
HSD currently monitors and supports registration and results reporting on CT.gov for clinical trials that are FDAAA Applicable Clinical Trials (ACT) and/or NIH-funded. Other agencies, sponsors, and organizations (e.g., Medicare, DoD, ICMJE) may also require registration and results reporting but HSD does not track or enforce these requirements. The 91探花PI is responsible for ensuring they are aware of and comply with any registration and reporting requirements on CT.gov outside those required under FDAAA or NIH.
Clinical trials that are determined to be per , are required to register and report results information on . Information about the requirements for registering and reporting results for ACTs can be found on the webpage.
All NIH-funded are expected to register and submit results information to , as per the . Information about NIH鈥檚 requirements for registering and reporting NIH-funded clinical trials can be found on the webpage.
HSD reviews all incoming IRB applications and certain study modifications to determine whether the study is required to register and report results on CT.gov and whether such studies should be registered under the UW鈥榮 PRS account. For this reason, all 91探花clinical trials that require registration under UW鈥檚 group PRS account should be initiated by a 91探花PRS Administrator at HSD.
Per HSD policy, clinical trial assessments are not completed until the IRB application or modification has been submitted to HSD. If an assessment is needed while preparing an NIH grant application, please reach out to your contact at the NIH funding agency for further guidance.
For studies where registration is required, HSD staff automatically initiates the CT.gov registration and communicates this information and the required next steps to the PI and study team via email.
Initial registration – No later than 21 days after enrollment of the first study participant or within 1 year of IRB approval (HSD policy), whichever occurs first.
Interim updates – The record must be updated at least once a year (even if nothing has changed) until final results are reported. Certain types of changes must be reported within 15 or 30 days. See How to Update a Record or Report Results in ClinicalTrials.gov for details.
Results reporting – No later than one year after the trial鈥檚 primary completion date. For information about exceptions, see How to Update a Record or Report Results in ClinicalTrials.gov.
Correction of errors – Within 15 days for registration information; Within 25 days for results information
The PI is responsible for:
The PI may delegate the responsibility for entering the information required for registration, updates, and results reporting to another member of the study team. An extensive amount of detailed information is required for this responsibility. The knowledge and time necessary to create a record (register the trial) and enter results should not be underestimated.
Registration and updates to the study record in PRS should be done by a person who knows the details of study design, eligibility criteria, outcome measures, and study status. Specific deadlines and requirements for updating study information is required. For more information on how to update a record visit How to Update a Record or Report Results in ClinicalTrials.gov.
Reporting clinical trial results to CT.gov is essential for ensuring transparency, accountability, and public trust in medical research. It allows outcomes鈥攚hether favorable, unfavorable, or inconclusive鈥攖o be publicly accessible, helping to prevent duplication of research and support evidence-based decision-making. Under U.S. regulations like and the , researchers are legally required to submit results to ClinicalTrials.gov. The information required for results reporting should be prepared by a person who knows the details of study design and analysis, such as an investigator or statistician, although others could then enter the information. For more information on how to update report results visit How to Update a Record or Report Results in ClinicalTrials.gov.
Researchers who are not required under FDAAA or NIH policy to register but want to voluntarily register or are required for other reasons (e.g., Sponsor requirement) should email the 91探花PRS Administrators at hsdreprt@uw.edu. HSD will initiate the study registration and communicate the required next steps to you via email. However, HSD does not track registration and results reporting requirements for these registrations.
Note: Whether CT.gov study registration is required or not, the researcher should understand the registration and reporting timeline requirements for submission.
91探花IRB approval for a clinical trial will not be renewed and restrictions will be placed on other existing studies under the same 91探花PI if the clinical trial registration has not been completed by the registration deadline. 91探花PIs that fail to report results by the deadline may be reported to their department heads for further follow up.
For clinical trials required to register/report under NIH policy, all of the following may occur:
For studies required to register/report under FDAA:
Although HSD does not track or enforce this, the ICMJE requires, and recommends that all medical journal editors require, registration of clinical trials in a public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrollment as a condition of consideration for publication. Further details regarding these requirements are available on the . Failure to register or report results for a clinical trial may result in an inability to publish in prominent medical journals.
All clinical trials performed at the 91探花or Fred Hutch Cancer Center (FHCC) facilities or by 91探花Physicians-credentialed investigators must be submitted for institutional review by the 91探花 via the REDCap-based . This is a single intake process that will help navigate the required operational and compliance reviews (e.g., Clinical Trial Management System, Investigational Drug Services, Radiology, etc.) and available resources (research nursing, study coordination, regulatory services, budget negotiation, etc.) for smoother start-up and successful and compliant conduct of clinical trials. This submission will generate a unique study 鈥淩G鈥 identifier (aka 鈥淩G number鈥 or 鈥淩G code鈥) that can then be used in other systems (IRB, SAGE, Epic EHR, Florence) to link all study records.
All clinical trials and clinical research studies that are expected to bill study participants, their health insurance, a study grant, or a study contract for clinical services, items or tests will undergo a CTO review in compliance with the 91探花Medicine COMP.202 policy. These studies will have a billing grid or a billing calendar created in OnCore CTMS and Epic EHR, which will be required to align with the study budget and the terms in the subject informed consent form and the study contract. This review will also provide current pricing for clinical items to inform the study budget and will set up the study for managing the post-award sponsor invoicing.
Consent forms for clinical trials must comply with the following requirements:
Federally supported clinical trials must post one IRB-approved version of an unsigned copy of the study consent form that was been used to enroll participants to a publicly available federal website. The consent form must be posted after the study is closed to recruitment and no later than 60 days after the last study visit by any participant, as required by the protocol.
There are two options for where to post the consent form. The researcher can choose either option.
Additional tips regarding posting consent forms
A Data and Safety Monitoring Plan (DSMP) is required for all clinical trials. Industry sponsors typically build these into the study protocol. For non-industry trials, the PI or trial management group is responsible for developing and implementing a DSMP. View the 91探花 for information, tools, and templates.
The principal investigator and other relevant members of the study team must fulfill training requirements before conducting a clinical trial that is funded by a federal agency and/or that is subject to FDA regulations. The requirements include:
HSD provides access to training that meets these requirements on HSD’s Required Training webpage.
HSD has developed and obtained guidance, tools, and helpful information to assist researchers in meeting these requirements. See our related webpages:
The UW鈥檚 PRS account at the ClinicalTrials.gov site is managed by HSD鈥檚 Regulatory Affairs team. This means that, in addition to completing the ClinicalTrials.gov assessment and pre-registering the study (as described above), HSD:
The assists with registration on ClinicalTrials.gov, as well as subsequent record updates and results reporting questions, for studies reviewed by FHCC鈥檚 IRB and where the PI is a member of the . CRS CT.gov results reporting policies can be found here. For questions related to studies managed by the CRS office, contact CTgov@fredhutch.org
HSD will track whether clinical trials under the 91探花PRS account have been registered and results are reported on CT.gov. 91探花IRB approval will not be renewed until registration has occurred.
HSD will communicate any changes or new information about these requirements through our monthly eNewsletter.
Additional specific information is provided in HSD鈥檚 FAQ page. You can also email hsdreprt@uw.edu with questions.
The UW鈥檚 can provide a wide variety of services and tools to assist with all aspects of a clinical trial. This includes regulatory coordinators and clinical study coordinators, available on an hourly or FTE contracted basis.
Open the accordion below for version changes to this guidance.
| Version Number | Posted Date | Implementation Date | Change Notes | 2.0 | 11.21.2025 | 11.21.2025 | Significant revisions: includes content moved over from archived CT.gov related webpages and to align with current HSD policies for CT.gov registration/results reporting; updated content for clinical trials billing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.5 | 01.17.2024 | 01.17.2024 | Updated CCRB link, minor language changes |
| 1.4 | 08.31.2023 | 08.31.2023 | Changed title of page |
| 1.3 | 08.23.2022 | 08.23.2022 | Removed broken glossary hyperlinks |
| 1.01 | 12.09.2020 | 12.09.2020 | Changed WIRB to WCG IRB |
| 1.0 | 04.04.2017 | 04.04.2017 | Webpage newly posted |
Keywords: CT.gov; Regulatory Affairs