Thank you to all who attended the NCTO International Clinical Trials Day (ICTD) event on May 12th. A special thanks to all who participated and spoke at the event. See below a calendar of events taking place in you local center to celebrate ICTD day on May 20th. A link to the NCTO ICTD Conference Brochure can also be found below.
Celebrating International Clinical Trials Day, 20th May 2022
Early stage clinical research and the participation of patients in clinical trials contribute to advancing health outcomes, and the more organised and sophisticated our clinical research infrastructure and delivery systems are, the better the outcomes will be for the public we serve. This has never been more obvious to us all than it has been over the last 2 year as we lived through the Covid 19 pandemic and the general public realisation of the need for high quality, trustworthy clinical trials became far more widely understood than it had been before. May 20th each year is International Clinical Trials Day, and on this important day we recognise and celebrate all the excellent national and international clinical trial and research activity ongoing at this time.
To celebrate today the NCTO are launching the following two recordings:
Dr Ruben Keane, QRM NCTO: “Changing landscape of Clinical Research in Ireland”
DR Fionnuala Keane, Manager NCTO: “HRB NCTO and ECRIN Update”
ICTD Calendar of Events
HRB NCTO_ICTD_Calendar of Events 2022
HRB NCTO ICTD 2022 Conference Brochure
With the support of the Health Research Board, host institution University College Cork, Enterprise Ireland and the seven University-based Clinical Research Facilities/Centres (CRFs/Cs) in the Republic of Ireland the Health Research Board National Clinical Trials Office (HRB NCTO), will deliver on the aims of the National Clinical Trials Coordination Programme 2021 over the 3-year term of its funding award. This programme was developed to build on the positive achievements of previous investments in clinical trials coordination and future investments in national clinical trials infrastructures. The overall aim of this investment is to ensure that Ireland has the capacity to conduct innovative high quality clinical research for the benefit of people’s health and the economy. HRB NCTO, as an integrated Clinical Trial network, will be aligned to the local supports of the existing clinical trials infrastructures to ensure a harmonised strategic national approach to the conduct of high-quality clinical trials in Ireland.
The HRB NCTO central office provides overarching support and expertise, through a range of services and activities to academia and industry. The partner CRF/Cs provide the infrastructure, physical space and facilities, experienced research and specialist support staff and the necessary quality and oversight programs that are critical for the successful conduct of world-class patient-focused research.
HRB NCTO and the CRF/Cs facilitate research but are not in a position to independently fund research. Our now seven partner CRF/Cs have over seventy years of combined research experience and include:
HRB CRF-University College Cork at Cork University Hospital, Mercy University Hospital & University Hospital Waterford
HRB CRF Galway at University Hospital Galway
Royal College of Surgeons Ireland CRC at Beaumont Hospital
University College Dublin CRCs at Mater Misericordiae University Hospital and St. Vincent’s University Hospital
Wellcome Trust – HRB CRF at St. James’s Hospital
HRI-CRSU:Health Research Institute Clinical Research Support Unit at University Hospital Limerick, Co Limerick.
Children’s Health Ireland (CHI)-CRC at Children’s Health Ireland
NCTO Strategic Objectives:
- Increase the number of multicentre clinical trials in Ireland through the provision of central signposting and the promotion of the infrastructures and resources available within the Irish Clinical Trial Ecosystem.
- Increase the number of International Sponsors undertaking Clinical Trials in Ireland though focused Relationship Management and Business Intelligence of key stakeholders.
- Improve the functionality of Irish Clinical Research Facilities/Centres by the efficient and cost-effective central provision of selected infrastructures and services:a)
a) Increase the total number of Irish study-specific trial sites by supporting site selection, set-up and performance monitoring of academic or commercial international clinical trials;
b) Facilitate the efficient and accountable running of clinical trials in Clinical Research Facilities/Centres by the central provision and support of CRF Management software (CRFManager);
c) Achieve mutually agreed, appropriate, minimal quality standards across all participating Clinical Research Facilities/Centres;
d) Support Pharmacovigilance Capabilities Training and shared best practices across the Clinical Research Facilities/Centres;
e) Support development and implementation of Standardized National Budget Template. - Achieving simple, effective and efficient processes for undertaking Clinical Trials in Ireland by identifying systematic barriers, opportunities and developments that are amenable to being addressed.
- Increase number of Academic Multinational Clinical Trials lead by or using Irish trial sites by engaging with ECRIN.
- Increase number of MedTech companies conducting Clinical Investigations within CRF/Cs.
- Ensure the high-quality, compliant and responsible conduct of all NCTO activities.
High Quality Clinical Research
Clinical Trial Network
Expertise & Infrastructure
Support Academia & Industry
HRB NCTO’s Mission
“To advance healthcare by enabling a coordinated system with the specialist skills, expertise and infrastructure to design, conduct and analyse clinical trials and other intervention studies in Ireland, undertaken by networked clinician investigators and/or industry.”
HRB NCTO operates a membership scheme, and invites investigator’s and those working as part of investigator teams in clinical research across Ireland to join. In addition, HRB NCTO works with a number of collaborating CRF/Cs. This allows us to extend the potential benefit of the infrastructure and network across the island and to link with experienced members and collaborators to further strengthen our organisation and achieve our aims.
