Publication on Investigator-Led Trials from ECRIN’s Portuguese National Partner
ECRIN’s Portuguese national scientific partner, in collaboration with ECRIN, has authored a new publication entitled “Investigator-initiated clinical trials conducted by the Portuguese Clinical Research Infrastructure Network (PtCRIN).”
The article provides an overview of the facts and figures concerning investigator-initiated clinical trials (IICTs); the capacity of existing infrastructures to perform interventional clinical research; and the scientific performance of investigators in a European country, Portugal.
The authors aim is to highlight the relevance and need for investing in European infrastructures such as ECRIN for multinational IICTs. Currently in Portugal, few multinational, randomised IICTs are coordinated by national investigators. This is most likely due to the lack of human resources dedicated to clinical trials in clinical research centres (CRCs); it is also due to the scarcity of professional academic clinical trial units (CTUs) providing logistics and management services at non-profit rates.
With the data shown, the authors expect to trigger the development of similar studies in other European countries. They also stress the impact of government support for IICTs.
