CCE costing tool: now in functional prototype stage

At Cancer Core Europe (CCE) we have been working on developing a costing tool that will allow us to standardize and make well-informed decisions among all CCE centres participating in collaborative clinical trials. The tool allows drafting the budget associated to any clinical trial to be conducted by CCE centres, either investigator-initiated trials or pharma/biotech sponsored trials. Carlos Lopez, CCE’s Ethics, Legal and Financial (ELFI) coordinator, has overseen the project’s activities since its beginning.

CCE costing tool, now in functional prototype stage, is currently being validated by all the consortium centres, and the feedback received from each one will be used to adjust the different parameters to match the requirements of each institution. “One of the main features of the developed costing tool is that it allows you to make a first budget proposal adapted to the costs of the 7 CCE centres”, explains Carlos.

Key highlights and specifications of the tool:

• User-friendly.
• Allows the CCE team to easily and consistently cost their patient-focused trial proposals, whatever the type of sponsorship: academic or commercial, the source of funding: public or private, and the lead center.
• Takes into account the variability of the salaries and prices across the centres.
• Includes overheads.

Furthermore, Carlos López (VHIO), Ruud Weijer (NKI) and Anne-Laure Vallier (CRUK Cambridge Institute) are working on a new tool to budget the CRO activities that will enable us to produce full economic estimations for clinical trials.

We look forward to starting to use this tool, which we are sure will be useful, help improve clinical trials efficiency, and, most importantly, allow us to accelerate cutting-edge discoveries and translate our findings to the clinic.