On 29th October, the Irish Clinical Research Infrastructure Network (ICRIN) and Molecular Medicine Ireland (MMI) hosted a very successful workshop for the medical device industry entitled “Impacting healthcare through facilitating clinical studies of medical devices/diagnostics in Ireland”. It was held in the Old Physics Theatre in Newman House on St Stephen’s Green and featured presentations from prominent members of the medical device sector and the wider clinical research arena.

The purpose of the workshop was to provide an overview of how to navigate the clinical trial process in Ireland through a greater understanding of the current infrastructure, the regulatory requirements and other key aspects of the medical device clinical trial process.

Dr Ruth Barrington, CEO of MMI, introduced the proceedings followed by ICRIN’s Marie Mellody who provided an overview of ICRIN's next steps in the formation of a research infrastructure for all research activities. Fionnuala Gibbons, also from ICRIN, provided more detail on the development of an infrastructure for clinical research and trials in medical devices and the role of the Clinical Trial Liaison Officer in facilitating this process. Dr Niall MacAllenan, IMB, John O’ Dwyer, NSAI, and John Kilmartin, Medtronic, addressed the regulatory requirements in relation to clinical research in Ireland and illustrated their talks with organizational experiences within the industry. Derek Young, RCSI, discussed the application of risk management and Professor Jim Egan, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, recounted his experience of conducting medical device clinical trials in the area of respiratory medicine. In addition, Declan Soden of UCC gave a review of moving a device from academia to commercialization and Ailbhe Cullen highlighted the activities of clinical research centres and specifically the activities of the RCSI CRC at Beaumont Hospital.

The final session of the day entailed presentations from Enterprise Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland and Irish Platform for Patients Organisation, Science and Industry (IPPOSI) and concluded with the Irish Medical Device Association who provided an overview of successes in the medical device industry to date, as well as a discussion of initiatives for the further development of the industry.

The workshop was attended by approximately 45 representatives from academia, small and medium sized businesses including indigenous companies. The feedback from the event was extremely positive with participants finding the forum an, “Excellent opportunity to discuss relevant topics with each presenter”, and, “A very useful meeting for people who work in isolation in a little company, to engage with other small and larger enterprises”.