There are many reasons why a clinical trial may be suspended. Typical explanations are insufficient patient enrollment or insufficient funding, but, sometimes, more serious events crop up that oblige the sponsor to halt a study.
In the past month, there was a significant spike in the number of medical device trial suspensions. Between early Jan. 9 and Feb. 8, 12 suspensions were recorded for Starts & Stops, compared to the previous month period when there were, at most, four suspensions. Among the companies suspending trials during the most recent period was Merit Medical Systems Inc
One of the trials, STAR, was an EU study, while the other, STAART, was a US study. Both were designed to evaluate Merit's ablation system for treating painful metastatic lesions in vertebral bodies and pairing this treatment with vertebral augmentation