Contract Research Organization (CRO) means an organization that provides support to sponsors of clinical trials who choose to outsource some or all of its services on a contract-basis. Sponsors can delegate all or part of the sponsor's trial duties to the CRO.
Investigator means an individual who actually conducts a clinical investigation (that is, under whose immediate direction the test article is administered or dispensed to, or used involving, a subject, or, in the event of an investigation conducted by a team of individuals, is the responsible leader of that team).
Sponsor means a person who initiates, but who does not actually conduct, the investigation, that is, the investigational device is administered, dispensed, or used under the immediate direction of another individual. An entity, other than an individual that uses one or more of its own employees to conduct an investigation that it has initiated is a sponsor, not a sponsor-investigator, and the employees are investigators.
Unanticipated Adverse Device Effects (UADE) is a serious adverse effect on health or safety or any life-threatening problem or death caused by, or associated with, a device, if that effect, problem, or death was not previously identified in nature, severity, or degree of incidence in the investigational plan or application or any other unanticipated serious problem associated with a device that relates to the rights, safety, or welfare of subjects.