Clinical Studies as a key for medical progress – Need for action to strengthen Germany’s position internationally
About the author
Prof. Matthias P. Schönermark, M.D., Ph.D.
Founder and Managing Director
Founder and Managing Director
Fon: +49 511 64 68 14 – 0
Fax: +49 511 64 68 14 18
Fax: +49 511 64 68 14 18
Clinical studies were the key to progress in medicine, stated the WR. They aimed to improve the prevention, diagnosis and therapy of diseases based on evidence. As a central building block of translational medicine, they allowed to convey new medical findings into medical care. According to the WR, an unmet need exists especially for those clinical studies which can contribute to the development of the decision-making basis, standards and guidelines. At the same time, these studies were mostly intensive in resources, time and personnel.
The potential of these non-commercial studies had not been fully exploited yet, judged the WR. This had a negative impact on patients and overall health care. However, no specific funding for these kind of studies existed, the WR criticized. A financial contribution of the health insurance funds of less than one per mille of their total spending (i.e. less than 230 million Euros) would be “economically justifiable by the potential for savings resulting from the studies”. But also the industry should support non-commercial studies, for example by providing investigational medicinal products free of charge.
As an expert for strategic planning during the early benefit assessment, we at SKC consulting closely follow the developments in the framework of translational medicine.
BY Prof. Matthias P. Schönermark, M.D., Ph.D., managing director and Yasmine Alwie, M.Sc. Biotechnology
Sources:
Wissenschaftsrat: Empfehlungen zu Klinischen Studien (German only)
Ärztezeitung: Bei klinischen Studien ist Deutschland Mittelmaß (German only)