Find care now
If you are experiencing a medical emergency, please call 911 or seek care at an emergency room.
In recent years, there has been an increasing trend toward the use of a single IRB (sIRB) review for multi-site HSR projects funded through other sources. Specifically, many commercial sponsors prefer single IRB review for their multi-site projects.
The revised common rule includes a requirement for single IRB review of most federally funded multi-site non-exempt human subjects research projects. Initially, the Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP) indicated that compliance with this common rule requirement was required starting on January 20, 2020. Later, OHRP clarified that although sIRB review is required for all federally funded multi-site non-exempt HSR projects, the agency has granted an exemption for all projects approved prior to January 20, 2020. This eliminates the need to transition currently approve projects from review by multiple IRBs to sIRB review.
For all future federally funded projects, it is strongly suggested that investigators include IRB review fees in the budget for their grant proposals. In most cases it is assumed that sIRB review will be conducted by a commercial IRB (such as WIRB or Advarra) or a larger academic/medical institution IRB. In some limited cases, the MHRI IRB may agree to serve as the IRB of record for a multi-site HSR project but this will not be the norm.
In all cases (regardless of funding) for which a MedStar investigator intends to request the MHRI IRB serve as the IRB of record, they must submit a request to the ORI office. The request must be submitted before the investigator commits the MHRI IRB to the responsibility of serving as IRB of record for other sites and before discussing reliance with any outside institution. The request should include a copy of the research protocol, an indication of the source of funding (if any), a list of all sites that may be engaged in the project, and the scope of involvement for each site. The ORI Director will evaluate the request and in consultation with the Institutional Official determine if the request will be approved or should be declined.
This process is similar to that for investigators requesting reliance on an external IRB. When an investigator would like to rely on an external IRB for review of their non-exempt HSR project, a request to cede review must be submitted to ORI in advance. In the case of the commercial IRBs for which there is a master reliance agreement (currently WIRB and Advarra), the investigator may simply submit an external IRB application through the Huron system. For other IRBs, a reliance agreement must be executed for each individual project. In the event that MedStar has not previously had an agreement with the intended external IRB, a request should be submitted to the ORI by email. The ORI Director will evaluate the request and in consultation with the Institutional Official determine if the request may be approved or should be declined. If approved the organization will be added to the Huron system and the investigator may submit the external IRB application for the project.
Please note that in most cases request for reliance involving exempt HSR projects will not be approved. Generally speaking, it is more efficient for these projects to be reviewed individually by each institution and most institutions have not been willing to enter into a reliance agreement for these projects.
In all cases, requests for reliance (either for the MHRI IRB to serve as the IRB of record or for MedStar to rely on an external IRB) will be considered with regard to the need for reliance, the feasibility of the arraignment and nature of the project. Ultimately the determination of reliance is left to the discretion of the ORI Director and the Institutional Official.
If you have any questions regarding this process, please contact MHRI’s ORI Director, Jim Boscoe, at James.H.Boscoe@medstar.net.
