Coast Independent Review Board

Coast Independent Review Board (Coast IRB) was a private, independent institutional review board that provided ethical oversight and regulatory review for clinical trials involving human subjects. The company served a broad range of clients, including pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology firms, medical device manufacturers, and contract research organizations (CROs). In 2009, Coast IRB became the center of a major industry scandal after a Government Accountability Office (GAO) sting operation revealed that the board had approved a research protocol for a fictitious medical device. Following an FDA warning letter and a temporary suspension of its ability to review new studies, the company ceased operations. Its assets and active study oversight were acquired by the Western Institutional Review Board (WIRB) in 2010.