Private healthcare already participates in half of clinical trials
Specifically, they collaborate in 48.5 percent of them according to Farmaindustria data
Source: www.sanidadprivada.publicacionmedica.com
Between 2004 and 2018, private health centers have participated in 1,431 clinical trials. Thus, they participate in 48.5 percent of the total developed in Spain, according to the data of the BEST Project of Excellence in Clinical Research of Medicines in Spain, promoted by the employer of the pharmaceutical industry, Farmaindustria.
“The discovery and investigation of new molecules through structured and regulated preclinical and clinical processes and procedures is a key activity of enormous added value, involving multidisciplinary teams where the search for synergies and collaboration are fundamental aspects and are a revulsive from the scientific point of view as economic and generation and promotion of qualified employment. A note in this regard, the health sector is one of the most intensive investments in innovation and R & D, is more than 20 percent in our country, “explains the director general of the Institute for the Development and Integration of Health (IDIS Foundation), Manuel Vilches.
Specialties with greater participation of the private
The distribution by therapeutic area indicates that Oncology, Cardiovascular, Neuroscience and Respiratory are the specialties where a greater number of clinical trials are carried out with private participation, in particular 572, 114, 93 and 92 studies, respectively. In this way, it is important to highlight the strong increase in the volume of trials in Oncology (from 41 percent in 2010-2014 to 48% in the 2015-2018 period) and the number of patients included in recent years (from 22 percent in the period 2010-2014 to 41 percent in the period 2015-2018).
Madrid, Catalonia and Navarre are the communities that accumulate more participations of private centers in the trials, with 879, 500 and 297, respectively. On the other hand, the significant increase in the number of patients in the Community of Madrid stands out, going from 28 percent in the 2010-2014 period to 41 percent in the 2015-2018 period.
About 40 percent, 570 trials of the 1,431 with the participation of private centers, is being carried out in early phases I and II, which are the highest level of complexity. In this sense, a clear increase has been observed in recent years in the participation of private centers in phase I trials (3 percent in 2004-2009, 11 percent in 2010-2014 and 21 percent in 2015-2018). On the other hand, the report shows that 56.5 percent of participations in trials in phase III and 8.9 percent in phase IV.
The head of Farmaindustria’s Platform for Innovative Medicines, Amelia Martín Uranga, stressed that, as evidenced by the data of the BEST Project of excellence in clinical research, in recent years “the percentage of clinical trials that have the participation of private hospitals, which now reaches 48.5%, compared to 36.4% a decade ago “. He also emphasized the high participation in the initial phases of the research, and the work that is being done in the right direction to respond to the new designs of the clinical trials and the demands of the pharmaceutical industry in this area.
Private centers show excellent results in the execution indicators of clinical research considered, such as the speed of recruitment (1.33 of private schools vs. 1.09 of public centers) or of the recruitment rate (102.4% of private schools vs. 85.3% of public schools). Generally recruitment times have decreased or are maintained in recent years (overall time, contract, first patient). In this way, it is observed that private centers show better results in all the indicators of execution of the research considered.
The general director of the IDIS Foundation has stressed that “the private health sector has shown in recent years to be a reality and have a great potential for development in the field of research in our country. Improving the competitiveness of Spain at the level of pharmaceutical R & D and R & D in general is a priority and strategic objective that the sector undoubtedly wants to lead once it is the only guarantee of leading the future and successfully face it “.
The private industry in which Distefar is immersed, participating in almost half of the clinical trials that are done in Spain. Hence the growing importance of these private health centers.
