OECD urges harmonisation of clinical trials to save lives

The OECD is urging its member governments to harmonise their clinical trial approval processes, citing a decline in the pharmaceutical sector in the EU, where the number of applications for clinical trials fell 25% between 2007 and 2011.

Increasingly complex and inconsistent clinical trial regulations are causing delays, raising costs and leading to a decline in the number of international trials conducted by academics for non-commercial purposes, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warned yesterday (25 February).

Many scientists say that in recent years clinical research has moved to non-European countries because some nations are less strict in their oversight of trials. The European Commission proposed a revamp of the Clinical Trials Directive to make it easier for companies to carry out research and bring new therapies to the market faster.

To boost medical research and help regulators overcome this problem, the OECD, the global economic policy forum, urges member states to streamline procedures for conducting clinical trials in new recommendations.

"This policy guidance is optimised for reducing the burden of trial oversight as far as possible; it should greatly facilitate the current discussion on the new European regulations, and will make it much easier to run independent clinical trials in Europe," said Jacques Demotes, director of the European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network who led the expert group that drafted the OECD recommendation.

The OECD recommends, among other things, that member states adapt their national regulations and procedures to incorporate a risk-based methodology for the oversight and management of clinical trials.

Following the recommendation would, according to the OECD, open up research in treatments that are driven by pressing public health needs but which currently offer few financial rewards for private companies.

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