Funding evidence: the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Clinical Trials Program

The goal of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Clinical Trials Program is to foster clinical trials that will provide the evidence needed to inform clinical care. The NINDS currently supports clinical research in over 150 neurological disorders. The rapid pace of preclinical discovery and the diversity of neurological diseases, however, present challenges for clinical trials. There is a growing number of potential interventions to be tested in clinical trials. The NINDS Clinical Trials program is therefore exploring ways of making drug selection for clinical trials more evidence-based. Additionally, NINDS supports pilot clinical trials that focus on the timely and efficient testing of agents to determine if resource-intensive comparative efficacy trials are warranted. In concert with the National Institutes of Health Roadmap, NINDS is planning to expand clinical trials infrastructure. This infrastructure is intended to enable the conduct of clinical trials for rare diseases and diseases without previous trials experience and facilitate the recruitment of a broad range of participants. Rigorous programs to select agents, and design and monitor clinical trials will encourage the efficient use of this clinical trials infrastructure and will ensure that NINDS-funded studies meet the highest scientific and ethical standards.