HHS Announces Exception to the Revised Common Rule Single IRB Requirements

The HHS Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) announced that research conducted or supported by HHS under the revised Common Rule may continue to use multiple IRBs in lieu of a single IRB for cooperative research if

1. the IRB the research before the Jan. 20, 2020 delayed compliance date for the single IRB requirement, or
2. the NIH single IRB policy does not apply, and the research was approved by an IRB or the NIH excepted the research from the single IRB policy before January 20, 2020.

This decision was in direct response to an AAMC joint letter, expressing concerns about HHS' assertion that multisite research studies approved by multiple IRBs after the effective date of the revised regulations must have a single IRB of record by January 20, 2020.