Clinical trials: clearer rules, better protection for patients
Europarl: 02-04-2014
Pharmaceutical companies and academic researchers will have to post the results of all their European clinical trials in a publicly-accessible database, under a draft law already informally agreed with EU ministers and passed by Parliament on Wednesday. The law also facilitates cross-border cooperation to make clinical trials larger, more viable and more reliable, which should in turn boost efforts to develop special treatments, e.g. for rare diseases.
“I am delighted that the overwhelming majority of MEPs backed this deal. It will make trials more transparent, give hope to patients needing new and better treatments, and boost the number of skilled research jobs here in Europe”, said Glenis Willmott (S&D, UK), who steered the legislation through the European Parliament. Her report was approved by 594 votes to 17, with 13 abstentions.
“The new law will also offer hope to the millions of people in Europe suffering from rare diseases, by making cross-border trials much easier to conduct. There are simply not enough patients in one country alone to develop new or improved treatments for rare diseases. By working at EU level we can reduce the huge cost and burden of conducting trials across borders” she added. Read More