The SCTO and its CTU Network collaborate at both the national and regional levels. Our coordination of activities with other clinical research infrastructures is aligned to the goals presented in the White Paper: Clinical Research in order to avoid overlapping activities yet benefit from synergies.
In order to align activities with complementary clinical research infrastructures, regular meetings with the Swiss Biobanking Platform (SBP) and the Swiss Personalized Health Network (SPHN) took place in 2022. The aim of these meetings was to address topics of mutual interest, share expertise, and decide on an aligned way forward.
On 29 June 2022, a high-level meeting took place between the SCTO and the Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research (SAKK), in which the presidents and managing directors took up the discussion of potential future collaboration. It is recognised that both organisations already work closely together on the topic of patient and public involvement, for example SAKK participates in the SCTO PPI working group. It was agreed that PPI and training/continuing education should be further developed as pilot projects for cooperation between the SCTO and SAKK within the remaining funding period.
Our President, Professor Christiane Pauli-Magnus, has been representing the SCTO in the national Coordination Platform for Clinical Research (CPCR) since its launch in December 2021. In 2022, the SCTO carried out its first mandate towards contributing to the vision laid out in the White Paper: Clinical Research (WPCR), published earlier in 2021. For this first mandate from the CPCR, the SCTO established and led a multistakeholder working group that included two patient representatives. The group assembled key regulatory pain points in clinical research and elaborated recommendations to the CPCR on how to overcome them.
In order to strengthen the voice of clinical research in Switzerland and share best practices, the SCTO has started a new pilot initiative among all interested Swiss hospitals that are active in clinical research. This pilot model operates under the name CRIC (Clinical Research Infrastructure Cluster). CRIC is a model to strategically expand the activities of the SCTO and its network of Clinical Trial Units (CTUs) throughout Switzerland. Based on this goal, the CRIC initiative fits into the WPCR’s vision to join clinical research forces in Switzerland.
The SCTO and the University Hospital Basel (USB) have supported the founding of the European Patients’ Academy on Therapeutic Innovation (EUPATI) Switzerland from the beginning. In 2022, the SCTO continued hosting EUPATI Switzerland’s secretariat and supported its Executive Board in its strategic endeavours, especially with regard to EUPATI Switzerland’s Patient Expert Training Course.