Date Posted: 15 Feb 2010
The European Clinical Research Infrastructures Network (ECRIN) has started to publish on the issue of lack of harmonisation when conducting clinical research in Europe. Contributing to two of their publications are ICRIN Senior Associate, Siobhan Gaynor and ICRIN's former Co-ordinator, Margaret Cooney. Professor Tim O' Brien, a director of the MMI Board, also contributed to a publication.
The first of these articles, which is contained in the link at the end of this paragraph, proposes a common nomenclature of clinical research in order to start making recommendations for harmonisation of clinical trial processes in Europe.
Another article recently published in The Journal for Medical Ethics, looks at the system of ethical review for clinical trials involving the use of drugs and proposes a single common ethics form to be used across Europe in order to simplify the process of conducting multinational clinical trials in Europe. This article can be viewed at:
http://jme.bmj.com/content/35/11/696.abstractECRIN is a sustainable, not-for-profit infrastructure supporting multinational clinical research projects in Europe. It is based on the connection of coordinating centres for national networks of clinical research centres and clinical trials units who are able to provide support and services to multinational clinical research. In Ireland, MMI/ICRIN participates in ECRIN projects and Siobhan Gaynor (ICRIN) is the National European Correspondent for ECRIN.
Multinational clinical research is hampered by the fragmentation of health and legislative systems in Europe. ECRIN provides information, consulting and services to investigators and sponsors in the preparation and in the conduct of multinational clinical studies, for any category of clinical research and in any disease area. This is particularly relevant for investigator-initiated or small and medium enterprise-sponsored clinical trials, and for clinical research on rare diseases where international cooperation is a key success factor.
If you wish to learn more about these publications or the Irish involvement in ECRIN please contact: siobhan.gaynor@molecularmedicineireland.ie
