Is It Time to Reimagine Clinical Trials in Nephrology?

The document discusses the potential benefits of metatrials in clinical research, particularly in nephrology. Metatrials are pooled analyses of multiple clinical trials, allowing for faster data accumulation and rapid determination of treatment efficacy. This method was used in response to COVID-19, as seen in the Awake Prone Positioning Metatrial study group. Metatrials offer advantages like improved patient recruitment and investigator independence, but also have potential disadvantages like the absence of a single principal investigator. The author suggests that metatrials could be beneficial in nephrology, where clinical trials often face challenges like patient recruitment and retention. The use of minoxidil, a drug used to restore hair loss, is mentioned as a treatment that could benefit from a metatrial due to the lack of profit incentive for pharmaceutical companies to conduct traditional randomized controlled trials.