Event “Clinical Trials as the Key to Medical Progress: What Do We Need to Do Better in Germany?”
29 October 2018
Impressions from the workshop
Panel discussion
© David Ausserhofer
View of the Einsteinsaal at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
© David Ausserhofer
Panel participants (from the left): Jan Geißler (founder and Managing Director of Patvocates GmbH), Professor Dr. Heyo Kroemer (Chair of the working group "Infrastructures in Life Sciences” of the Health Research Forum), Dr. Christiane Kling-Mathey (press spokesperson for the German Council of Science and Humanities and moderator of the event), Professor Dr. Michael Roden (Chair of the Medical Committee of the German Council of Science and Humanities), Professor Dr. Rita Schmutzler (Director of the Zentrums Familiärer Brust- und Eierstockkrebs [Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre], University Hospital Cologne) and Professor Dr. Hendrik Schulze-Koops (Chair of the working group "Clinical Trials by the DFG Senate Commission on Key Questions in Clinical Research")
© David Ausserhofer
Panel discussion
© David Ausserhofer
The event on 29 October 2018 was organised jointly by the DFG Senate Commission on Key Questions in Clinical Research (SCCR), the Medical Committee of the German Council of Science and Humanities and the Health Research Forum of the BMBF. The three bodies presented the results from their respective working groups, each reporting from its own perspective of the field of clinical trials and comparing these viewpoints. All in all, a constructive set of measures was presented to allow the potential of the full spectrum of clinical trials in Germany to be more effectively exploited in future. The event was attended by around 70 people from business, politics and society. After an introductory presentation by Professor Rita Schutzler (University of Cologne), the chairs of the different working groups and Jan Geißler (European Patients’ Academy, EUPATI), representing the patient side, discussed the current situation of clinical trials in Germany. The questions discussed included:
- What is currently going well/badly in Germany with regard to the options for carrying out clinical trials and what specific improvements need to be made?
- Where do stakeholders perceive the most urgent need for action?
- Why should early clinical trials in particular be better funded?
- What form would a meaningful integration of patient representatives take?
- How can early career researchers be motivated for clinical trials and what incentive structures are important in this respect?
Further Information
- Programme flyer (PDF) (available in German only(Download)
- Press Release: Clinical Trials - Key to Medical Progress (30 October 2018) (available in German only(Download)
- DFG Statement on Clinical Trials (available in German only(Download)
- German Council of Science and Humanities recommendations on clinical trials (available in German only(externer Link)
- BMBF Health Research Forum strategy recommendations for the development of research networks for clinical trials in Germany (available in German only(externer Link)