CZECRIN Annual Research Conference 2023 on Clinical Trials Topics

On 21 June, the traditional CZECRIN Annual Research Conference took place, which again covered a wide range of topics and presentations in the field of patient-oriented clinical research.

The conference was opened with the lecture by Associate Professor Demlova, who presented the international CREATIC project, supported by Horizon Teaming. The aim of the project is to establish a centre of excellence for the development and research of medicines for advanced therapies and gene therapy.

The first session of the conference was dedicated to international collaboration and was also honoured by the participation of the President of ECRIN – Jacques Demotes. His presentation focused on the topic of decentralised clinical trials (DCTs), which aim to enable clinical trials to be conducted at the clinical trial centre. It is hoped that by reducing barriers, the range and diversity of participants in clinical trials will increase.

Other international presentations were given by Jon Salmanton Garcia (University of Cologne), who commented on the situation of the European volunteer registry network Vaccelerate, and the last speaker of this session, Marta del Álamo (ECRIN), introduced the ERA4Health Partnership.

The second session of presentations showcased clinical trials that share the common feature of improving patient care. The Colecmo study, the use of mesenchymal stromal cells in the treatment of epidermolysis bullosa, clinical trials for ictal patients, deep brain stimulation and others were presented by physicians and researchers from MED MUNI, St. Anne’s University Hospital and UH Brno.

The final session was devoted to education opportunities in the field of clinical trials. Participants were introduced to the CZECRIN ACADEMY educational platform and projects focused on education in the field of clinical trials, such as Conscious II – aimed at Ph.D. students and early career researchers, Connect for Children (C4C) focused on education in the field of neonatology and paediatric clinical trials or EUPATI project.

A Panel Discussion was held with representatives of healthcare providers, sponsors of academic KH and representatives of Ethics Committees on the regulation of clinical trials in the context of environmental harmonization and national specificities.

“I am extremely pleased with the high level of expert presentations, lively discussions and the abundant participation, which is higher every year. This year’s event was attended by a total of 100 participants, 40 of whom joined online.” adds Lenka Součková.

The main organizer of the conference is CZECRIN in cooperation with FNUSA-ICRC and the Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk University.