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Some of the globe’s major supporters of medical research have today pledged, by signing ajoint statementTo adopt WHO guidelines and enhance clinical trial systems, ensuring that research more effectively benefits patients and communities. The statement outlines actions to incorporate clinical trials into long-term national frameworks, enhance trial design, ensure that trial participants are diverse, and incorporate optimal practices regarding transparency, data handling, and community involvement.

The initiative capitalizes on the energy generated by the recent release of WHO’s Guidance for Optimal Practices in Clinical Trials and the Global Action Plan for Strengthening the Clinical Trial Ecosystem (GAP-CTS). The declaration also references the 2017 WHO joint statement regarding the public sharing of outcomes from clinical trials and the 2023 Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness (GloPID-R) funders’ roadmap for managing clinical trial coordination.

Approved in the context of the World Health Assembly resolution concerning the enhancement of clinical trials (WHA 75.8), the statement acknowledges the essential role of funders in influencing a clinical trial environment that produces reliable evidence, enhances efficiency, and guarantees fairness in accessing research outcomes.

Incorporating experiments within eco-friendly frameworks

The declaration highlights the significance of integrating clinical trials into national health and research systems, ensuring they correspond with local objectives. Additionally, the statement mentions that funders commit to utilizing available resources whenever feasible, promoting capacity building where necessary, and facilitating early interaction with communities and patients. Those receiving funding for clinical trials will also get direct assistance to fulfill best-practice requirements, such as data handling, involvement of patients and communities, and ensuring that trial groups are diverse.

Creating studies to address unresolved requirements

Trials need to be carefully structured, tackle areas where evidence is lacking, and involve the groups that stand to gain the most. Those applying should demonstrate how their ideas engage patients and local communities, incorporate a wide range of participants, and are based on thorough literature reviews. Sponsors will assess trial designs to confirm they are suitable, feasible, and applicable broadly, and ask applicants to outline strategies for ethical data handling and sharing.

Meeting best-practice standards

Sponsors also pledged to ensure that studies are carried out according to the highest global standards. This involves registering studies in publicly available databases, updating outcomes within 12 months after completion, and publishing methodologies, statistical analysis plans, and results in open-access publications. Sponsors also agreed to promote the prompt sharing of understandable results during public health crises and to facilitate data sharing in accordance with international guidelines.

By harmonizing policies and procedures, research funders seek to establish a more unified global trial system. The pledges undertaken are anticipated to minimize redundancy, enhance the effectiveness of funding utilization, and ensure that clinical evidence better addresses the requirements of various populations. They also address the ethical requirement for openness, which fosters confidence among trial participants and the general public.

In the next six months, those who have signed will create a series of high-level, quantifiable metrics to monitor overall advancement. These metrics will assist in evaluating how effectively funders are fulfilling their promises and establish a structure for responsibility within the research field.

Quotes from signatories

Dr. Steve Wesselingh, Chief Executive Officer, Australia National Health and Medical Research Council

“To ensure NHMRC remains a world leader in clinical trials, we are committed to working with our global funders of health and medical research on implementing agreed standards that will improve the clinical trial operating environment, ensuring a more robust, consistent and efficient international approach to best practice for clinical trials.”

Dr Pramod Joshi, Executive Chief-Member Secretary, Nepal Health Research Council

Nepal is dedicated to enhancing cooperation in health research. Through joint efforts among nations, we can tackle common issues more efficiently and ensure that research leads to significant advancements in public health. In accordance with the updated WHO guidelines, we are also focusing on building a strong clinical trial system that maintains the highest levels of ethics, quality, and openness.

Professor Ntobeko Ntusi, President and Chief Executive Officer, South African Medical Research Council

On behalf of the SAMRC, we are proud to have signed this significant statement. Our institution is dedicated to making sure that trials carried out in our area are registered in the PACTR and SANCTR Clinical Trial Registries. This enhances openness and responsibility in clinical research. A well-integrated clinical trial system is essential for the healthcare system, as it promotes innovation, aids in evidence-based policy development, reinforces regulatory choices, and guarantees fair access to safe and effective treatments for every community.

Dr. John-Arne Rottingen, Chief Executive of Wellcome

Clinical trials play a vital role in delivering interventions and products to those who require them the most, while also enhancing our knowledge about health conditions and diseases. If there is no involvement and representation from the communities impacted, the outcomes of these trials may worsen existing inequalities. As international health funders, we need to back initiatives that develop long-term clinical trial capacities based on proven best practices, tailored to meet local requirements within current health systems. For genuine health equity and maximum impact, trials must be carefully designed and reflect the diversity and context of the communities they seek to assist.

Dr. Paul Hébert, President of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Engaging patients and the community is crucial for establishing trust and making sure that clinical trials are effective and address the needs of the people they aim to help, with transparency playing a key role in minimizing research waste. CIHR is happy to be part of this shared effort to advance best practices in clinical trials in collaboration with important research funding partners.

Dr. Didier Samuel, President and CEO of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm)

Inserm is pleased to support the 2025 Joint Statement on Enhancing Clinical Trials, demonstrating a clear policy dedication to integrated, long-term trial systems that correspond with national goals and international benchmarks. By incorporating WHO’s recommended practices into funding policies—fostering strong design, diverse involvement, open reporting, and responsible data sharing—we can promote structural advancements that enhance the efficiency, fairness, and relevance of clinical research to public health demands.

Dr. Yazdan Yazdanpanah, Director of ANRS Emerging Infectious Diseases, Inserm

Clinical trials play a crucial role in discovering effective innovations for prevention and treatment, as well as implementing efficient interventions that enhance the health of patients and communities. The ANRS Emerging Infectious Disease, as an international funding organization, is proud to be a signatory of this significant statement and to support initiatives that ensure clinical trials align with national and regional priorities, adhere to best practices, guarantee fair access to effective treatments, and are carried out through a global approach.

Dr. Michael Makanga, Executive Director, Global Health EDCTP3

Enhancing the clinical trials ecosystem is a common goal for Europe and Africa. Being a significant supporter of cross-continental clinical research, Global Health EDCTP3 strongly backs the WHO’s initiative to improve trial design and execution, incorporate trials into national health systems, focus on unmet medical needs and affected populations, and guarantee effective patient and community participation – all crucial elements for boosting public health results and raising the standards and credibility of clinical trials.

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