The Role of Innovation in Clinical Trials for a Healthier Europe
The European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network (ECRIN) and its Hungarian national scientific partner – Hungarian Clinical Research Infrastructure Network (HECRIN) organized the International Clinical Trials Day 2018 (ICTD) on 15 May in Budapest. Innovation and its effects on international trials have been the main topic of discussion.
Clinical trials are tremendously important for health research and development in order to being able to offer safe and effective health care. Innovation in the current clinical trials means, that during the examination the monitoring is specially adapted to the needs of each patient, the so-called electronic case-reports and statistical analyses are widely-used, in order to gain access to the largest amount of the most reliable data for the analyser. Other innovations are used as well in today’s clinical trials, new genomic methods, the speed-diagnostics of rare genetic diseases, and the possibility of giving personalized medical care. The regular examination of dietary habits and its health political consequences have become more important recently. The ECRIN and the HECRIN are cooperating with other influential scientific European networks, and these studies are not coming from the pharmaceutical industry, but from the so-called academic studies, directly from the researchers.
Prof. Jacques Demotes, director general of ECRIN and Prof. György Kosztolányi, chair of the Medical Sciences Section of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences greeted the audience. Then an interactive discussion followed about real situations in health care, proving the much-needed presence of applying the best clinical practices, which was the topic of the presentation of Prof. Martin E. Schwab’s, director of Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Prof. József Pálinkás, president of the of National Research, Development and Innovation Office former president of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences talked about the national policy of funding innovation, followed by a lecture by Prof. Gábor L. Kovács, chairman of HECRIN and University of Pécs Szentágothai Research Centre introducing the health innovation ecosystem in Hungary.
Gábor L. Kovács said at the International Clinical Trials Day: “This event today helps in spreading innovative technologies and processes in order to make the clinical examinations even more focused on the patient, more efficient and safe.”
