Our Services

What We Offer

The VCIC works closely with corporate sponsors, individual clinicians, clients, and patients, offering services ranging from recruitment, study design, protocol compliance, quality assurance, data capture, and reporting, conducting clinical trials at both Penn Vet hospitals – New Bolton Center and Ryan Hospital.

Here are highlights of our services: 

• Targeted Marketing & Recruitment Strategies

  A successful companion animal trial begins with the ability to recruit the number of animals necessary to deliver results. The VCIC has demonstrated an ability to recruit significant sample sizes in a wide array of disease models over more than 14 years of managing veterinary clinical trials. The Ryan Hospital’s large case load combined with its extensive referral network of more than 3,000 veterinary practices make it uniquely suited for clinical trial recruitment and enrollment.
  
  When a trial requires more animals with a specific condition than would normally be presented in the 34,000 pets that come to Ryan Hospital annually, the VCIC has a proven record for targeted recruitment of animals at over 400 percent above baseline presentation rate.
  
  The VCIC understands and employs recruitment modalities that are most effective for a given target population and can guide sponsors on the most efficient means to enroll the desired number of animals in a specified period of time for a given study.

• Clinical Trial Design and Study Protocol Development

  Penn Vet has the expertise to implement and manage all aspects of veterinary clinical trials, from study set-up and recruitment to data collection and analysis, final study reporting and closeout. The center works closely with faculty members trained in epidemiology and trial design to ensure that projects are powered appropriately with a robust plan for statistical analysis in order to yield meaningful results.

• Study Site Selection, Training & Management

  The VCIC has the clinical research experience to identify and oversee clinical trial sites that are familiar with the international standards set forth in VICH GL9 Good Clinical Practice as well as perform training for GCP.

• Study Monitoring

  Veterinary research nurses with extensive clinical and monitoring experience work on campus as well as with remote study sites to ensure protocol and regulatory compliance.

• Quality Assurance & Control

  The implementation of a robust audit plan is vital to the success of any clinical trial. The VCIC at Penn Vet has developed business processes to optimize data capture rates and ensure protocol adherence so that a research question may be answered utilizing the most complete information set possible.

• Data Capture Form, +/- Electronic Data Capture Management

  The center has extensive experience in the creation of data capture forms and competency using a number of commercial, governmental and private electronic data capture modalities. 

• Final Study Reporting

  Final study reports are formatted according to FDA/CVM Guidance #85 Good Clinical Practices with technical recommendations provided in Guidance #104.

The Role of Pathology in Clinical Trials

Pathology plays an integral role in patient focused research by providing the necessary diagnostic and biocorrelative data.  The Comparative Pathology Core supports clinical trials at Penn Vet by providing expertise in tissue evaluation and state-of-the-art molecular and digital pathology techniques.

• Learn about the role of the Comparative Pathology Core in Penn Vet clinical trials...

For Sponsors Interested in Working with the VCIC

The VCIC is involved in the coordination and implementation of industry, foundation and government funded studies including FDA- and USDA-regulated studies. Specific information for our sponsors can be found here...

PennCHART

Penn Vet's Veterinary Clinical Investigations Center offers veterinarians, investigators, and sponsors access to a suite of research tools validated by investigator's at Penn Vet through a single portal called PennCHART (Companion-animal Health Assessment Research Tools). Learn more about PennCHART...