Clinical trials

Clinical trials involve testing new drugs and medical equipment on human subjects. The aim is better treatments. Clinical trials can be conducted on both healthy volunteers and patients.

‘Clinical trials are key to medical development. On average, patients who participate in clinical trials get access to experimental treatment six to seven years before the treatment is available on the market,’ says Siri Kolle. Kolle is Vice President Clinical in Inven2 and responsible for Inven2’s clinical trials.

Clinical trials give healthcare personnel important experience on new drugs and treatments, research experience and access to international networks.

‘It is also important to the Norwegian healthcare industry to be able to test their treatments locally, and that Norwegian innovations benefit patients in Norway at an early stage,’ says Kolle.

Clear-cut system

Inven2 represents the hospitals involved in individual trials and set up the agreements between the industry and the clinic in question. Inven2 is also responsible for following up all the financials of the agreements.

‘This is a good and clear-cut system because it ensures an arm’s length distance between the industry and the hospital, which in turn ensures transparent collaboration,’ says Kolle.

Inven2 carries out this work on behalf of all hospitals in the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority and the University Hospital of Northern Norway. Handling numerous sites simplifies the start-up of clinical trials in Norway. Inven2 is making continuous efforts to rationalise the process of getting agreements in place, to make the period prior to start-up as short and predictable as possible.

Kolle points out that it is a competitive advantage to be able to start the trials in Norway quickly, because there is strong global competition to attract clinical trials.

Decline in Norway, upturn for Inven2

In 2017, the analytical assessment consultants of Menon published a report on clinical trials. The report shows that the number of clinical trials in Norway is declining, which is also confirmed by the number of new trials reported to the Norwegian Medicines Agency for the whole year. However, Inven2 handles a consistently high number of trial agreements.

‘We had 160 new agreements in 2017. This is on a par with 2015, our record year thus far, and 20 more than last year. We are pleased that our activity remains at a stable high level despite the national decline,’ says Kolle. ‘It shows that the industry finds the hospitals we represent to be attractive partners.’

Read more

– The Menon report on clinical trials: http://www.lmi.no/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Verdien-av-kliniske-studier-Rapport-fra-Menon.pdf
– Clinical trials on the rise at Inven2: http://www.inven2.com/no/news/201706/100-kliniske-studier
– Inven2 Clinical Trials: http://www.inven2.com/no/clinical-trials