New Head of the Clinical Research Unit in Brussels.
Thierry Schurmans, MD, PhD, formerly Chief Physician and pediatric nephrologist with the Queen Fabiola Children’s University Hospital in Brussels, has taken over from Jean-Pierre Tassignon, MD, PhD as Head of the Clinical Research Unit (CRU) serving the Children’s Hospital and the Brugmann University Hospital. The CRU is operated by Crossover under a long-term partnership agreement with the respective hospitals which started in September 2008. In the meantime, more than 12 FTEs support the clinical staff involved in all clinical trials on campus. Dr Schurmans is a member of the Core Group of the Belgian Paediatric Clinical Research Network, and sits on the joint Clinical R&D Committee of the two university hospitals. Dr Tassignon moves on to set up new CRUs for Crossover.
EFGCP In-house training course for experienced researchers at two hospitals in Brussels.
The European Forum for Good Clinical Practice has created a training course for experienced researchers, which has been provided in-house at several pharmaceutical companies and at the European Organisation for Research on the Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). It is the first time that the course is provided on campus at hospitals. Sponsoring the event were the Brugmann University Hospital (Brugmann UH), the Queen Fabiola Children’s University Hospital (QFCUH) in Brussels, Belgium and Crossover, which operates the Clinical Research Unit at these two healthcare institutions with 4 hospital sites in the north of Brussels. The EFGCP lecturers were Dr Frank Wells, Dr Ingrid Klingmann and Geneviève Decoster. This full-day course attracted 60 doctors from all departments, the staff from the Clinical Research Unit, as well as a few nurses. The purpose was to boost the knowledge of GCP of staff involved in clinical research at these institutions in the wake of a multiplication of clinical trials. The organizers selected the EFGCP because of the high quality content and panel provided by the EFGCP and the robust experience the EFGCP has gained with the course in Europe. Brugmann UH and QFCUH can now document an intensive clinical research training by an external group of 10% of all doctors working at these institutions. Training in clinical research is taken very seriously and will continue with various methods and events.
Crossover CRI opens a Clinical Research Unit at Doverie Hospital in Sofia, Bulgaria
ZUG, Switzerland, August 12, 2009. -- Crossover CRI AG ("Crossover"), a leading provider of clinical research support staff and services to healthcare institutions, announced that it executed a master clinical research partnership agreement with Doverie Hospital in Sofia, Bulgaria on 11 August, 2009.
Dr. Peter Keremedchiev, Executive Director of Doverie Hospital said: “Our hospital offers state-of-the-art medical care. Participating in clinical trials of international importance is a key mission of our doctors and nursing staff. Patients come to Doverie Hospital also because they know they can find access to drugs and devices which are not accessible yet outside clinical trials. Our collaboration with Crossover will boost the image of our hospital with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies internationally.”
According to Dr. Jean-Pierre Tassignon, President & CEO of Crossover, “The Crossover Clinical Research Unit (CRU) at Doverie Hospital is the first investment of Crossover in Eastern Europe, which plays an increasingly important role in clinical research. Crossover is confident that clinical research at Doverie Hospital will develop rapidly because the global clinical research market needs elite hospitals with the equipment and talent to conduct modern clinical trials.” He sees synergistic effects with the large CRU Crossover has already set up at CHU Brugmann hospital and the HUDERF pediatric hospital in Brussels, Belgium.
The quality requirements in clinical research continue to increase. The complexity of clinical trial protocols is doubling every five years according to a study by Tufts University in the United States. Clinical trials now involve a lot of genomic and proteomic research parameters and electronic data transfer. The Crossover office in Bulgaria headed by Dr Velizar Tchernev will provide key support to the new CRU.
Crossover confirmed that it is in negotiation with other specialist hospitals in the European Union in order to continuously expand its clinical research infrastructures network.
About Doverie Hospital
The Doverie Medical Complex in Sofia, Bulgaria is located on an area of 8,000 sqm. Medical activities cover general surgery, internal medicine, urology, orthopedics, plastic surgery, gynecology, anesthesiology, gastroenterology, cardiology, nephrology, neurology and physical and rehabilitation medicine. The Hospital has a laboratory, a pharmacy, and imaging facilities. It has its own ethics committee.
About Crossover CRI AG.
Crossover CRI AG (Crossover) is currently establishing a large international network of Clinical Research Units (CRUs) at research-driven healthcare institutions. Its CRUs are located on-site at the healthcare institution to enable the collection and analysis of healthcare information both in clinical trials and epidemiology studies.
Crossover invests in establishing and staffing the CRUs that are responsible for conducting all clinical trials carried out at the selected healthcare institutions which are part of the Crossover network. The Crossover network of CRUs conducts clinical trials according to the same standards throughout the network.
Further information can be found as follows:
Contact: Dr Velizar Tchernev, International Director of Clinical Research Technology and Regional Director South-East Europe, Sofia, Bulgaria
Mobile: +359 885 59 7109
E-mail: Velizar.Tchernev@crossover-cri.com.
SOURCE Crossover CRI (=Clinical Research Infrastructures) Group.
http://www.crossover-cri.com
Fraud and misconduct in clinical trials – How pervasive in the world?
In a recent article published in the January 2009 issue of the Journal for Clinical Studies, Crossover’s President points to the alarming increase in fraud and misconduct, as well as questionable research practices worldwide in the domain of clinical research. He speculates that some of the extraordinary moneys invested in external monitoring by sponsors should be better invested in strengthening research oversight inside healthcare institutions hosting investigators. Link