Lay summaries for Phase 1 trials in healthy volunteers - Volume 29, Issue

Lay summaries of Phase I trials in healthy volunteers pose a challenge because their endpoints are complex, the targeted indication may not be known when they are conducted, their results are often reported years after the trial ended, and the…

Lingua Franca and Beyond - Volume 25, Issue

In this issue of Medical Writing, I would like to recommend two articles. Szymon Musiolshares with us his thoughts on a statistician’s role in research overall and also in the process of preparing publications. He takes a medical writer’s…

Regulatory Writing - Volume 22, Issue

This article introduces aspects of the regulatory writing profession in China and Japan. Although regulatory medical writing is at an early stage of development in China, the ever-growing research and development activities in this country have led…

Value of medical writing: The regulatory writer's perspective - Volume 31, Issue

The American Medical Writers Association formed a working group in 2020 focused on understanding and communicating the value that regulatory medical writers contribute to project teams, companies, and the wider research community. The working…

Seventh Freelance Business Survey: The freelance landscape 2018-2023 - Volume 32, Issue

The freelance medical writing landscape has evolved in recent years, with more market demand for competent medical writers who can work on a project basis. In January 2023, the European Medical Writers Association’s (EMWA) Freelance Business Group…

Journal Watch - Volume 26, Issue

Data sharing is encouraged by institutions and journals: Authorship of “shared” papers should be clearWhen researchers share data, the teams analysing them want to publish their results. How should authorship of publications be defined? Who are the…

Creation of a patient-centric patient lay summary in the local language - Volume 26, Issue

Prior to this project, no patient lay summary (PLS) had ever been developed locally in Japan. In order to create a PLS that is more tailored to local patients, we attempted to develop one in and for Japanese. Such PLS was drafted based on the…

Pharmaceutical clinical trials transparency and privacy - Volume 29, Issue

With the introduction of new clinical trial transparency regulations around the world, transparency functions have had to adapt to a range of reporting requirements. In 2007, the FDA Amendments Act (FDAAA) established requirements for trial sponsors…

Profile - Volume 26, Issue

The new European medical device regulation and guidance document on clinical evaluation An Interview with Dr Bassil Akra The successor of the currently applicable Medical Device Directives (MDD 93/42/EEC and 90/385/EE) combines both directives…

From the Editor - On social media: Once a passive observer – now an active user - Volume 30, Issue

It is with great pleasure that I write my first editorial for this amazing issue on social media. The idea of this issue came to me in 2019, inspired by two special colleagues.

I had social media accounts even before I became a medical writer. I rec…