Behind every drug that becomes part of modern medicine is a long and carefully controlled journey. Before a new treatment enters routine clinical practice, it must be validated in a clinical trial, in an environment where science, clinical experience and patient safety are combined. Clinical trials are not just ‘testing’ new approaches. They are a key tool to turn research findings into real benefits for patients and to advance healthcare.
The Czech National Research Infrastructure CZECRIN connects clinical sites, research teams and other experts across the Czech Republic and Europe. CZECRIN helps to create conditions for quality clinical research, supports its coordination and contributes to making clinical trials faster, more efficient and producing results that can be used in practice. It also includes biostatistical support and data handling, which has a major impact on the reliability of results and their interpretation.
About the work of CZECRIN, support of academic clinical research in oncology and optimal treatment of high-risk pediatric patients with dendritic cell vaccine and collaboration on international projects within ECRIN:
CZECRIN also provides research teams with practical support in coordinating collaboration between sites. In many studies, multiple hospitals or specialty centers need to be involved, aligning processes, schedules, and roles to make the study run smoothly and efficiently. It is the ability to connect the different actors and create a functional framework for collaboration that is one of the key benefits of a national infrastructure.
With National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) CZECRIN cooperates in a number of projects. Within the framework of oncology, a donet CZECRIN | onco, dedicated to clinical research in the field of solid tumours and at the same time collaborates on clinical projects and clinical trials related to haemato-oncology and paediatric oncology, so that the impact on real clinical practice is as high as possible.
The problem in paediatric oncology is the long delay in the introduction of new drugs or new treatments for high-risk patients, mainly due to the lack of interest of the pharmaceutical industry. Children with cancer represent a fraction of the total cancer population, and the opportunity to include new drugs for those for whom standard treatment is not sufficient or causes serious side effects lies in academic clinical trials.