Objective: to maintain clinical trials without putting patients’ health at risk
Farmaindustria participates in a Eupati webinar aimed at patients from all over Spain
Explain how laboratories are working, in collaboration with researchers and hospitals, so that the health crisis affects as little as possible clinical research
Source: www.farmaindustria.es
Farmaindustria companies have focused since the beginning of the health crisis in trying to make it affect the clinical trials carried out in Spanish hospitals as little as possible, trying to maintain activity without jeopardizing patient safety. This has been explained by representatives of the Association in a webinar organized this Thursday by the European Academy of Patients in Spain (Eupati Spain).
Of course, the difficult situation generated by the Covid-19 pandemic in the entire health system in general and in hospitals in particular has put a great strain on research activity, given the need to direct most of the resources in centers to address the urgency of the crisis and the added difficulties, such as the increased risk of infection for patients participating in the trials on their hospital visits.
This has forced to pause some ongoing trials, they have explained from Farmaindustria, but the cooperative work between promoting pharmaceutical companies, Spanish Medicines Agency (Aemps) and researchers and centers and the learning obtained in the first weeks of the crisis, the most They have made it possible to advance in solutions that are normalizing the situation and that allow valuable knowledge for the future.
Thus, the collaboration of all parties, within the framework of the instructions quickly approved by the Aemps, has allowed the adoption of measures aimed at patient safety, such as sending medication to the patient’s home or online interviews, and to efficiency through the digitization of procedures such as signing contracts or remote monitoring.
The representatives of Farmaindustria, Amelia Martín Uranga, coordinator of the Platform for Innovative Medicines, and Francisco J. Fernández, director of Communication, underlined the referential role that Spain has acquired in recent years in terms of clinical research and the value that this has for the health system as a whole: for hospitals, which receive a large investment from pharmaceutical companies; for health professionals, who are at the forefront of research and who transfer this knowledge to their healthcare work, and for patients, who benefit from this higher quality of care and early access to investigational medicines.
Bet on research in Spain
On this basis, they insisted on the commitment of companies based in Spain (both national and multinational) with cooperation with the health system through research, which constitutes a great opportunity for our country, given the impetus that biomedical research It is experiencing worldwide and the position of privilege that Spain occupies.
In the webinar, in which César Hernández, head of the Department of Medicines for Human Use of the Aemps, and Pedro Serrano, of the Spanish Network of Health Technology Assessment Agencies of the National Health System, also participated, the challenge was it is assuming the health crisis as an opportunity to learn and improve for the future by all those involved in clinical research (from efficiency to the application of digital media) and also as an opportunity for society to become more aware of what research means and value.
From Distefar we support the fundamental role that the sector is having in this health crisis and the importance of betting on research in our country.
