Sarawak hospitals among 7 focused on accelerating devt of new, more effective medicines
Dr Shahnaz (second right) launches the conference. Also seen from left are SGH head of clinical research Dr Alan Fong, assistant state director (public health) Dr Jamilah Hashim and National Clinical Research Centre director Dr Goh Pik Pin. — Photo by Jeffery Mostapa
KUCHING: Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) here and Sibu Hospital are among seven hospitals under the Ministry of Health to join the Quintiles Prime Site Programme – a global initiative focused on accelerating the development of new and more effective medicines.
The other hospitals are Queen Elizabeth II Hospital (Kota Kinabalu, Sabah), Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital (Kota Bharu, Kelantan), Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital (Ipoh, Perak), Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital (Alor Setar, Kedah) and Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (Klang, Selangor).
The government recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with Clinical Research Malaysia (CRM) and Quintiles Malaysia Sdn Bhd on clinical research services to facilitate industry-sponsored clinical trials at the hospitals.
“This partnership will facilitate the efficient enrolment of volunteers for clinical trials and the conduct of such trials with high quality,” said Minister of Health Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam whose text of speech was read by deputy director-general of health (research and technical support) Dr Shahnaz Murad during the eighth National Conference for Clinical Research 2014.
Dr Subramaniam said the three parties would work closely to create a strong relationship with investigators and staff to introduce innovations and site management processes to improve and transform the conduct of clinical trials.
“This in turn will be instrumental in helping Malaysia achieve a target of 1,000 ongoing clinical trials by 2020,” he said.
Dr Subramaniam, who is also CRM board chairman, said clinical research had been identified as a priority of Entry Point Project 2 (EPP2) under the Healthcare National Key Economic Area initiative.
He said the government had invested strategically to create a supportive ecosystem to grow clinical research, which led to the establishment of CRM as a non-profit government-owned company in 2012.
CRM is tasked to coordinate the promotion of Malaysia as a high quality and high performing clinical research destination in the Asean region.
“Our aim is to generate foreign direct investment that will deliver the gross national income target of RM578 million and create 1,000 new high skills jobs by 2020,” he added.
The Ministry of Health currently has 30 Clinical Research Centre (CRC) facilities located at government hospitals, which aim to lead research in Asia and improve patient health outcomes through ethical and quality clinical research.
The network of CRC has physicians certified in the required Good Clinical Practice and who practise good standards of care comparable to developed nations.
Quintiles is the world’s largest provider of biopharmaceutical development and commercial outsourcing services with more than 30,000 employees in over 100 countries.
The company developed and commercialised all of last year’s top 100 best-selling products or compounds.
More than 530 delegates and speakers from across the country are attending the conference, which will end tomorrow.