POLCRIN - international support for non-commercial clinical research
In connection with Poland's accession to the European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network (ECRIN) on 23 August 2019 for a period of three years in the role of an observer, the Medical Research Agency has created the POLCRIN entity (Eng. Polish Clinical Research Infrastructure Network).
Due to the creation of the network, the Medical Research Agency has launched for the Polish researchers and their teams a website of the organisation: www.polcrin.gov.pl. The website presents information on the POLCRIN network, and also reliable information supporting conducting non-commercial clinical research.
POLCRIN (Polish Clinical Research Infrastructure Network) is a national network of the centres that conduct clinical studies on medicinal products and medical devices, and it is a part of the European ECRIN network - Polish Clinical Research Infrastructure Network. The ECRIN network is a non-profit organisation that was founded to promote and facilitate undertaking international clinical research in Europe. The organisation's activities are focused on clinical research initiated by academic sponsors.
The ECRIN network enables international cooperation in the scope of non-commercial clinical trials So far, Poland has been a white spot on the map of such ventures. We are changing it today. Thanks to the fact that Poland has joined the network and the POLCRIN entity has been established, Polish patients will have the opportunity to become subjects of large international clinical trials and have access to the most innovative therapies without the need to leave the country - stresses Radosław Sierpiński, MD, PhD, President of the Medical Research Agency.
The Medical Research Agency is the institution that represents our country in ECRIN. In relation to Poland joining the Network, Radosław Sierpiński, MD, PhD, the President of MRA, established the POLCRIN entity that has the status of an observer, similarly to Slovakia and Switzerland. Czech Republic, France, Spain, Ireland, Germany, Norway, Hungary, Ireland and Portugal have the status of a member of the organisation.
Numerous researchers and sponsors of non-commercial clinical research do not participate in international trials as they are afraid of various formal or logistic barriers (e.g. of meeting various legal requirements of individual countries, the need to undergo multiple bioethical assessments or the issue of the trial management and financing). As a result, non-commercial trials are still conducted in one country only, when compared to the trials sponsored by commercial entities (e.g. pharmaceutical companies). The POLCRIN's task is to support researchers in overcoming the mentioned barriers.
As Marek Migdał, MD, PhD (Director of the Children's Health Memorial Institute in Warsaw) - the National Coordinator for Pediatric Research, says: Founding POLCRIN infrastructure by MRA creates an opportunity for increasing the number of international, multi-centre clinical trials on future medicinal products. Through POLCRIN Polish research centres will be able to join the well-organised research structures that operate in 12 European countries. Joint actions enable us to conduct clinical trials faster, having the top quality ensured. It is also a chance for the Polish centres to join research on anti-viral medicines or vaccines that can help to fight the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
The POLCRIN's main goal is to increase the number of non-commercial clinical trials of international character in Poland, recalling the potential of our researchers and the future benefits that result from international cooperation. In the view of the above, the website www.polcrin.abm.gov.pl has been launched.