The Clinical Research Forum, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., has unveiled its picks to receive its annual Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Award, a recognition it gives to researchers who are exceptionally innovative and impactful on a number of diseases.

The following clinical research activities received the 2022 Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Award:

• Duke University’s “ADAPTABLE” (Aspirin Dosing: A Patient-Centric Trial Assessing Benefits and Long-Term Effectiveness) trial;
• Regents of the University of California, Davis’ “Association of Dose Tapering with Overdose or Mental Health Crisis Among Patients Prescribed Long-Term Opioids” study;
• University of California Los Angeles’ “Behavioral Nudges Increase COVID-19 Vaccinations” trial;
• Cleveland Clinic’s “Neurorobotic Fusion of Prosthetic Touch, Kinesthesia and Movement in Bionic Upper Limbs Promotes Intrinsic Brain Behaviors” study;
• The National Cancer Institute Center for Cancer Research’s “Development of Pomalidomide in the Treatment of Chronic Graft-vs.-Host Disease” trial;
• Stanford University’s “Evaluating Eligibility Criteria of Oncology Trials Using Real-World Data and AI” study;
• Tufts University’s “New ‘Race-Free’ Equation to Estimate Kidney Function” and the University of California, San Francisco’s “Race, Genetic Ancestry and Estimating Kidney Function in Chronic Kidney Disease” studies (which shared an award);
• Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine’s “Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Overweight or Obesity” trial;
• Rockefeller University’s “The Important Role of Autoantibodies Neutralizing Type I IFNs in COVID-19” study; and
• University of Pittsburgh’s “Tympanostomy Tubes or Medical Management for Recurrent Acute Otitis Media” study.

The top three winners, to be chosen from the top 10, will be announced on April 19 and will receive cash awards; one will receive a cash prize of $7,500 while the other pair will receive $5,000 each.

A total of 70 nominated trials and studies published in peer-reviewed journals in 2021 were judged by the Clinical Research Forum’s board based on the trials’ impacts, outcomes and/or designs. The forum shared with CenterWatch Weekly its reasoning for selecting the winners.

Stanford’s “Evaluating Eligibility Criteria of Oncology Trials Using Real-World Data and AI” study was selected based on its clinical research impact. The study’s methodology could be widely adopted in clinical research to make trials more inclusive, safe and efficient and is, in fact, already being utilized by Roche and Genentech in their trial designs. The trial featured Trial Pathfinder, an open-source software tool that evaluates the impact of different eligibility criteria on patients and can be used in other trials.

Duke’s ADAPTABLE trial featured a pragmatic trial design that was able to answer a longstanding question about aspirin-dosing guidelines for heart disease patients. It was the first clinical trial to use the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet), a data, research and patient insight network, to do comparative-effectiveness research.

One study was awarded based on its impact for patients tapering off opioids, as its findings showed that patients on long-term opioid therapy are more vulnerable as they taper off. The findings from UC Davis’ “Association of Dose Tapering with Overdose or Mental Health Crisis Among Patients Prescribed Long-Term Opioids” may lead to a more careful, supportive approach when adjusting opioid doses and will likely end the practice of rapid and involuntary tapering.

The UCLA “Behavioral Nudges Increase COVID-19 Vaccinations” trial was deemed significant because it revealed things that could impact whether people get vaccinated. It found that behavioral science can accelerate uptake of COVID-19 vaccinations without much marginal cost and suggested that behavioral nudges, such as positive reinforcement, may be a viable and effective promotional strategy for vaccination.

Researchers made significant headway in the treatment of advanced chronic graft-vs.-host disease (cGVHD), a rare disease that affects patients after a stem cell or bone marrow transplant. The National Cancer Institute Center for Cancer Research’s “Development of Pomalidomide in the Treatment of Chronic Graft-vs.-Host Disease” trial showed that low doses of pomalidomide, a treatment for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, are safe and effective for treating cGVHD and also identified biologic mechanisms that could lead to new targeted therapies and drug combos for the disease in the future.

Tufts’ and the University of California, San Francisco’s studies, which shared an award, were selected because of their findings in assessing the impact of race on kidney function assessments. The University of California, San Francisco’s study demonstrated that the race coefficient should not be completely taken out of estimating glomerular filtration rate (GFR), a measure of how well the kidneys filter blood, when using tests that rely on creatinine as their filtration marker. It also showed that race doesn’t need to be factored in when using cystatin C, another test, which should move healthcare practice toward greater adoption of it. The Tufts study demonstrated that the Chronic Kidney Disease-Epidemiology (CKD-EPI) is a reliable equation for computing and reporting estimated GFR and also doesn’t require input of race. This method is already being adopted for the large share of minorities who suffer from chronic kidney disease.

Revealing the significant weight loss provided by once-weekly semaglutide, a drug that is infrequently considered a treatment option for obese patients due to multiple barriers, was lauded for work done by researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine’s “Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Overweight or Obesity.” They discovered that a weekly 2.4-mg dose of semaglutide for 68 weeks led to an astounding 15 percent average weight loss, with one-third of participants shedding weight comparable to that seen from bariatric surgery.

Rockefeller University’s “The Important Role of Autoantibodies Neutralizing Type I IFNs in COVID-19” was awarded based on its contributions to understanding COVID-19. The researchers identified a group of individuals with specific genetic deficiencies that may be predisposed to more severe COVID infection. These patients can be identified using exome sequencing and plasma analyses.

A study that evaluated a bionic arm in amputees delivered a method to measure the sensory and motor features of the arm, essentially assessing how much patients felt like it was a real limb. The Cleveland Clinic’s study was awarded because it will contribute improvements to the feasibility and usability of bionic limbs.

And lastly, the forum awarded the University of Pittsburgh’s “Tympanostomy Tubes or Medical Management for Recurrent Acute Otitis Media” study because the findings are likely to lead to a major shift in how otitis media (ear infection) is managed in children. Specifically, the study found that tympanostomy tubes did not offer advantages in reducing the rate of ear infections and that antibiotic treatment was the best option for most children who suffer from recurrent ear infection.