Innovating Clinical Trials
Welcome to Innovating Clinical Trials, the podcast designed for clinical research professionals eager to deepen their understanding of clinical trials through concise, insightful segments. Join your hosts, Liam Eves and Ted Trafford, as they uncover the core issues in clinical research, reflect on the industry, and challenge conventional wisdom.
Ted Trafford - https://probitymedical.com/
With 30 years of experience in clinical research, Ted serves as the Director of Business Development, driving business growth and leading Feasibility and Site Relationship teams at Probity Medical Research, a clinical trial site administrative support company with a consortium of 75+ sites across four countries. As a writer and speaker, Ted contributes to thought leadership and strategic initiatives in the clinical trials industry, leveraging his extensive experience and creative approach to drive meaningful discussion and progress for Sponsors, CROs, Sites and Technology Vendors.
Liam Eves - https://www.theendpointpodcast.com/
Liam's held executive roles in SMOs and CROs, and led all major functions of trial delivery. His journey into the field began unexpectedly after an injury ended his career as a professional footballer. Over the years Liam has optimized trial delivery methods / systems for effective enrollment and trial delivery. Currently, he focuses on building and advising companies in the clinical trial space.
Opinions expressed are those of the participants and not their employers.
Innovating Clinical Trials
Ep. 2.25 The Burdens Still Breaking Clinical Trials: 50-Page Consents, Broken Tech, and Stolen CRCs
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In this episode, Ted opens with a poem that captures the persistent, compounding burden on clinical trial sites: 50-page consents, non-functional tech, poached CRCs, financial holdbacks, and study designs that ask far too much from participants for far too little payoff.
What follows is a candid conversation between Ted and Liam about why these problems haven't gone away and in many cases, have gotten worse. Study visits in 2026 take twice as long as a decade ago. One in three procedures collected don't support a primary or key secondary endpoint. Endpoints, procedures, and planned visits have each grown by roughly 40% over 15 years.
But this episode isn't only a critique. Conversations with small biotech, mid-size sponsors, and a large pharma groups, all reached out to ask what sites actually need and what's getting in the way. Thirty years ago, that didn't happen. There is a shift and that's worth paying attention to.