The COVID-19 pandemic is the greatest public health crisis the U.S. has ever faced. The Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy has marshalled its outstanding network of experts to respond to the crisis in real time, guiding Federal and state leaders through this extraordinarily difficult period. Interdisciplinary faculty and researchers from Duke University, Duke Health System and other leading health organizations are collaborating on vital, evidence-based strategies needed now to address the pandemic.

Duke-Margolis has put forward key policy steps leaders must take to respond comprehensively to the COVID-19 pandemic, to reopen the nation successfully, and create a more secure health care system. At the same time, the Center continues its vital mission to educate tomorrow’s health policy leaders, develop and analyze new data, provide timely thought leadership, and engage the greater public through outreach and education.

As the biological mechanisms of diseases and pharmacological activities of therapeutics are better understood, this information provides opportunities to improve clinical trial efficiency. One such opportunity includes identification and use of surrogate endpoints that indicate disease progression or clinical response in clinical trials. In instances where disease progression or clinical response is slow, surrogate endpoints may provide a measurable prediction of the outcomes for clinical trials in a shorter and more feasible timeframe . Development and validation of such surrogate endpoints, however, often requires sustained efforts and dedication from many stakeholders.

Surrogate endpoints represent only one way that translational science can be leveraged to support clinical development of medical products. Understanding the causal pathways of a disease can support the identification of prognostic or predictive biomarkers. Animal models of disease can provide supportive evidence for candidate therapeutics when the pathophysiology of disease is well understood and the animal model recapitulates important aspects of the human disease. When developing these types of mechanistic evidence to support a clinical development program, early discussions with regulators on the type(s) of evidence and how the evidence would be used can be beneficial.

Collaboration between academic researchers, industry, clinicians, patient organizations, and regulators can drive innovation and facilitate the use of translational science during clinical development . This workshop will focus on best practices and provide use cases for successfully bringing forward evidence generated through translational science for regulatory submissions. Stakeholders will discuss potential barriers to using translational science to support therapeutic development and strategies to overcome those barriers.

William Bleser, Yolande Pokam Tchuisseu, Humphrey Shen, Andrea Thoumi, Deborah Kaye, Mark McClellan, Robert Saunders

Caleigh Propes, Sarah Sheehan, Rachele Hendricks-Sturrup

Andrea Thoumi and Kamaria Kaalund