Clinical trials medication management at Eastowne Medical

From Andrew Thorne, PharmD, MS System Clinical Manager Investigational Drug Services UNC Health

Logistical considerations for medication management of future clinical trials with patient encounters at Eastowne Medical Office Building

With the opening of the Eastowne Medical Office Building (Eastowne), UNC Health has endeavored to increase care coordination and make UNC Health more accessible to the community. This need is also present for clinical trials and UNC Health Investigational Drug Services (IDS) has worked with study teams and local pharmacy staff to make medication management services for clinical trials available at Eastowne. To accomplish this, IDS works with the staff of the Therapeutic Infusion Center pharmacy (TIC) and the Eastowne retail pharmacy.

These on-site pharmacies are quite busy pharmacy locations in their own right and have limited capacity for on-site storage and the dispensing work that comes with storing medications at Eastowne. IDS has set up logistical workflows where the cognitive processing, oversight, and physical preparation of investigational product (IP) is performed by full-time IDS professional staff at dedicated IDS locations. Prepared IP is then transferred to the local pharmacy location for holding and pickup. This is sometimes referred to as a ‘hub and spoke’ distributional model.

Outside of extenuating circumstances clearly requiring on-site storage and preparation of IP, and when no other options can be successful, IDS will work with you and the study sponsor to determine the best hub and spoke workflow to suit the needs of the proposed study.

We are excited for the opportunities that Eastowne brings to the research community and proud to be a part of this effort.