On Thursday, June 13, the seminar “Clinical trials in Latin America and the Caribbean: how to increase their economic and social impact?” was held at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile. The event, in collaboration with the Chamber of Pharmaceutical Innovation of Chile (CIF), sought to highlight the economic and social impacts of clinical trials, as well as identify challenges and joint strategies to promote their development in Chile and the region.
This initiative is part of ECLAC’s work and technical assistance programme that supports countries in the region in designing better productive development policies in the health manufacturing industry.
Clinical trials are a fundamental part of the process of generating new medicines and represent the majority of the total research and development costs associated with this process. The possibility for a country to actively participate in clinical trials not only facilitates its access to cutting-edge technologies and medicines, but also opens up opportunities for researchers and institutions to be part of international collaboration networks and strengthen their R&D capabilities.
Marco Llinás, director of ECLAC’s Division of Productive and Business Development, began the session by highlighting the region’s low growth and stagnant productivity over the past decade, and then indicated that “the health sector in general, and the pharmaceutical sector in particular, including the clinical trials segment, appear to be a great opportunity in our countries. Moreover, several countries are already prioritizing the health sector and the pharmaceutical sector as part of their strategic commitments within the framework of their productive development policies.” He added that “we hope that this will produce a roadmap for working in this pharmaceutical sector and in this clinical trials segment so that it becomes a driver of productivity for Latin America and the Caribbean.”
Along the same lines, Mónica Assef, president of the CIF, indicated that “we believe in the importance of promoting and strengthening biomedical innovation and that is why in September 2021 we carried out the study on Investment in Clinical Research together with InvestChile and in collaboration with the UC Center for Surveys and Longitudinal Studies. And in July 2023 we established the Collaboration Roundtable for Clinical Research in Chile, in which various actors in the ecosystem and clinical research have worked together to develop concrete recommendations for a public policy to attract clinical trials.”
The seminar began with a presentation by David Bravo, director of the UC Center for Surveys and Longitudinal Studies, on investment in clinical research in the pharmaceutical industry. This gave way to the first panel, “The potential of clinical trials as a driver of investment in R&D,” moderated by Yaneth Giha, Executive Director of the Latin American Federation of the Pharmaceutical Industry (FIFARMA), which included the participation of Nicolo Gligo, economic affairs officer of the Productive and Business Development Division of ECLAC, Jorge Katz, professor of the Department of Economics at the University of Chile and advisor to the National Council of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation for Development, Francesca Carvajal, associate vice president and head of global operations for clinical trials for Latin America, MSD, and Felipe Reyes, clinical oncologist at the Arturo López Pérez Foundation.
In his speech, Nicolo Gligo reported on the different ways in which ECLAC is supporting countries in the region to design policies to strengthen the health manufacturing industry, which includes pharmaceutical products and medical devices. He also stressed that one of the major challenges is to achieve effective coordination between the objectives of health policies and those of productive development.
To answer the questions initially raised in the seminar, various success stories from around the world were analyzed, as well as the strategy implemented by FarmaIndustria in Spain, which has become a benchmark at an international level. This presentation was given by Amelia Martín, director of the Department of Clinical and Translational Research, who spoke about the success that this country had in investing in clinical trials: “We have learned that the pharmaceutical sector is a strategic sector, it helps patients, hospitals, and this is something that was demonstrated by the pandemic,” said the director.
The second panel, “Challenges for a clinical trials attraction policy,” moderated by Juan Alberto Lecaros, Director of the Bioethics and Law Observatory of the Universidad del Desarrollo of Chile, included the participation of Nicolás Gutiérrez, Head of the Clinical Studies Section of the Public Health Institute of Chile, Miguel O’Ryan, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Chile, Jorge Fernández, Executive Director of the Vi-Da Foundation and representative of patient organizations in the National Cancer Commission, Francisca Rodríguez, Manager of Innovation and Health of the Chamber of Pharmaceutical Innovation of Chile and Francisco Chahuán, Senator of the Republic of Chile.
The seminar called for joint work between the public, private, academic and civil society sectors to strengthen biomedical innovation. Participants highlighted the importance of creating policies that facilitate the conduct of clinical trials, considering their high value for the population. This collaborative effort seeks to turn the region into a driver of productivity, advancing health and social well-being.
The presentations and recordings of the seminar can be found at this link
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