International conference to address clinical research in Europe

Journalists are invited to attend the one-day conference on the "Future of independent academic clinical research in Europe", which is being organised under the auspices of the Belgian Presidency of the European Union and with support of both the academies of medicine in Brussels.

The Royal Academies of Medicine are calling for the creation of a European fund for Investigator Driven Clinical Trials (ICDT) because the current European Commission Research Framework Programme does not offer sufficient funding opportunities for the large, independent, international clinical trials that are essential for patients' access to new and better treatments and medicines.

This international conference will address the importance of, but also the threats to, independent, international, investigator-driven clinical research in Europe and will highlight problems related to the implementation of the European Directive on experimentation of medicinal products and the lack of harmonisation of national regulations.

Speakers and participants will include:

• Fran-oise Meunier, Director General of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), Belgium;
• Ruxandra Draghia-Akli, Director of the Health Directorate at the European Commission's DG Research;
• Harald zur Hausen, of the German Cancer Research Centre, and Nobel Prize winner in 2008;
• Robert Souhami, of the Academy of Medical Sciences, UK;
• Martine Piccart, of the Institut Jules Bordet, Belgium;
• Francesco Pignatti, of the European Medicines Agency;
• Stefan F-hring, of DG Health and Consumers;
• Liselotte H-jgaard, of the Rigshospitalet, Denmark, and chair of the European Medical Research Councils;
• and many others