CATT Study Update 11: More on the Story Behind the Story of the CATT Study

As we await publication of the first results of the CATT Study, probably sometime early next year, I found another interesting account of the “story behind the story” of how the CATT Study became a reality. Just published by the Health Care Reform Center of the New England Journal of Medicine, it is an account of how the investigators behind the CATT Study overcame many obstacles to get the study underway. The article was written by the same authors as my previous writeup on this subject – “CATT Study Update 8: The Story Behind the CATT Study”, by Drs. Martin, Maguire and Fine.

Because the NEJM refused permission to reproduce the article, here is a synopsis, along with a link to the original version that is available online.

Identifying and Eliminating the Roadblocks to Comparative-Effectiveness Research

By: Daniel F. Martin, M.D., Maureen G. Maguire, Ph.D., and Stuart L. Fine, M.D.

Posted by NEJM ● June 2nd, 2010

With patient-advocacy and health policy groups seeking comparative-effectiveness research (CER) as a means to reduce health care cost without compromising the quality of patient care, the Federal Government has committed $1.1 billion, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to ensure that the scientific community will undertake such research. Yet major federal policy changes and innovative measures were required before one such CER study, the “Comparison of Age-Related Macular Degeneration Treatments Trials (CATT Study) could be launched.

This article describes the trials and tribulations, along with hoops to jump through, that the organizing committee had to go through to get this study underway.

An initial article on this topic, written by the same authors, appeared in the Fall 2008 issue of Retina Times, the official publication of the American Society of Retinal Specialists (ASRS). I reproduced that article in this space as CATT Study Update 8: The Story Behind the CATT Study.

The new article, whose title is shown above, can be read in its entirety in the New England Journal of Medicine at this link.