VII. National Clinical Trials Day 2024

This year’s National Clinical Trials Day, organized by the Large Research Infrastructure CZECRIN in Prague, was, as usual, dedicated to the topic of clinical trials aimed at evaluating the safety and efficacy of new drugs or therapies.

The conference was supported by the Ministry of Health, recognizing the need for support in this area, ultimately benefiting patients.

One of the main topics of the conference was the position of clinical trials in the Czech Republic within the European context. Clinical trials play a crucial role in the development of innovative medicines and have a direct impact on the quality of life of patients. Clinical trials have been conducted in the Czech Republic for more than three decades. Currently, more than 480 trials are being conducted in many healthcare institutions involving more than 16,000 patients, which puts the Czech Republic in a strong position in European comparisons. Support for clinical trials, including providing a sufficient number of qualified study coordinators, is key to maintaining and further development of this position.

The initiative of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic to harmonize the environment for conducting clinical trials was presented at the conference by JUDr. Radek Policar, Chief Director of the Ministry of Health for Legislation and Law. He noted, “Thanks to the clinical trials of medicines that take place in hospitals and outpatient clinics, our patients get access to the most modern treatments. Support for this activity is therefore support for the benefit of patients, research teams, and it also saves the public health insurance system costs, as medicines are paid for by those who initiate the research and still pay for those who participate in the research.” MUDr. Alice Němcová, Director of the Department of Clinical Evaluation of Medicines at SÚKL, added the perspective of the national regulatory authority.

The moderated discussions focused on the possibilities of strengthening the position of the Czech Republic on the map of clinical research, particularly through linking with European initiatives. This included improving clinical practice and financing medical research in cooperation with foreign experts.

An important topic of this year’s conference was the role of healthcare institutions as the main actors in the implementation of clinical trials. The complexity of study teams, the competencies of study coordinators, and the possibilities of support in conducting clinical trials in healthcare facilities were highlighted. For several years, the infrastructure CZECRIN VVI has been contributing to the cultivation of the environment for conducting clinical trials through education. “We get funding from the Ministry of Education and therefore we can support individual hospitals towards study coordinators so that hospitals can benefit from them and provide their training. Thanks to national support, we can also contribute financially to enables the whole infrastructure work properly,” added CZECRIN Director Assoc. MUDr. Regina Demlová, Ph.D.