White spots in the Polish Clinical Trials Network will disappear

- The National Reconstruction Plan, which we managed to renegotiate and unlock in talks with the European Commission, includes a number of components. The total in the health area is nearly 18 billion. One of these components is the comprehensive development of research in health sciences," said Katherine Kacperczyk.

The deputy health minister recalled that in the area of clinical research, the MZ cooperates with the Medical Research Agency. The government has provided a total of PLN 1.14 billion for support in various areas of clinical research. The ABM has announced 5 competitions, and most of them will be decided soon.

- We are providing 150 million for the establishment and development of Clinical Research Support Centers, and 135 million for improving and enhancing the scientific and research capacity of already existing CWBKs. This is a real impact on empowering our research centers, and it also has a real impact on patients. We need new therapies for rare diseases and oncology, among others. We have great scientists and fantastic centers. By creating hubs in each region, we want to increase the development of research, especially for patients in waiting for new therapies. This is also important for Polish manufacturers," said Katarzyna Kacperczyk.

- This is the third and final competition to support the new CWBKs. The centers will be located in 9 provinces. This allows us to fill in all the white spots on the map of the Polish Clinical Trials Network. I hope this is the foundation for clinical research in Poland to catch up with Western Europe. We see that the growing number of clinical trials is a great opportunity. Particularly in oncological diseases, rare diseases and pediatrics, clinical trials are often the best form of treatment that give patients a chance to live a long, safe life in good condition. These are points to come to and ask what you can do to help yourself or your loved ones suffering from such diseases," noted Prof. Wojciech Fendler, president of ABM.

More than 12 million in support for the construction of the Lubuskie Clinical Research Support Center will be available to the Karol Marcinkowski University Hospital in Zielona Gora.

- The hospital I represent is the home base for the University of Zielona Gora's Faculty of Medicine. As a very young faculty, established in 2016. We are catching up on lost time to support clinical research and researchers and create a very good perspective for patients. Our medical staff has been conducting clinical trials for some time. However, it has been alone in their implementation. Researchers who don't have the support of someone who administers these trials, monitors their progress or helps with billing are often severely discouraged," said Dr. Marek Dzialoszynski, CEO of the Karol Marcinkowski University Hospital in Zielona Gora.

The National Cancer Institute in Warsaw has much more experience in this field. The CBWK will receive more than PLN 15 million.

- NIO has been developing clinical trials for several decades. There are more and more of them, most importantly, including non-commercial ones. We are developing translational research - translating experience from basic science into clinical experience. The modernization and development of CBWK will allow us to increase this potential. We are already conducting more than 500 clinical trials. This translates to about 4 percent of patients. Annually, we qualify about 5,000 people for research," pointed out Prof. Beata Jagielska, director of NIO-PIB.

The creation of the Jagiellonian Clinical Research Support Center in Krakow is the project that received the highest score in the ranking list.

- We have a fair amount of research in surgical medicine, but there are also some underrepresented patient groups for research. We wanted to make a full-profile center. This is probably the first center that has a pediatric center, support for adult medicine research, and it also offers all the scientific facilities of a medical campus under construction," mentioned Prof. Rafal Olszanecki, plenipotentiary of the Jagiellonian University's Collegium Medicum vice-rector for science and infrastructure.

The project will receive nearly PLN 11.5 million in support.

- We are already the 11th market in the world in terms of conducting clinical trials worldwide. We have even more potential. The development of clinical trials affects all of medicine. I think that the disappearance of white spots means not only that the patient will be closer to a place where he or she will find a clinical trial conducted at the highest level, but also that the potential of various branches of medicine will increase," assessed Prof. Piotr Rutkowski, chairman of the ABM Council.