31 July 2017, Sydney, Australia and Seoul, Korea: Asia Pacific specialist CRO Novotech announced today it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with South Korea’s SCI-Consortium of Clinical Trial Centers and its representative hospital, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University Health System.
The SCI-Consortium (SCIC) is a network of clinical trial centres comprising four of South Korea’s leading hospitals: Yonsei University Health System (Severance Hospital and Gangnam Severance Hospital), The Catholic University of Korea St Mary’s Hospital and Inha University Hospital.
The network provides clinical trial access to over 1,500 investigators[1], almost 6,000 hospital beds and more than seven million patients per year[2]. One of the SCIC’s key strengths is its clinical trial data system with more than ten million de-identified records. Its vast database provides easy identification of potential eligible patients, allowing much faster clinical trial recruitment. At present, the SCIC has over 30,000 active patients enrolled in clinical studies [1].
Under the terms of the MOU, Severance Hospital as representative of SCIC will provide professional and medical advice to Novotech for clinical trials conducted at the four hospitals; including feasibility, principal investigator selection and assistance with patient recruitment. Novotech will assist in promoting the clinical research capabilities of the SCIC internationally. Both parties have agreed to continue expanding the future scope of the collaboration.
Speaking for the SCIC, Director Prof. Jae Yong Sim from Severance Hospital said "The SCIC has pooled together resources such as patient databases, investigator networks and expertise, while maximizing the cooperation between university hospitals, research and business development. Key offerings such as our databases not only help to identify patients rapidly, but also allow feasible protocols to be designed1. Our MOU with Novotech will help the SCIC to communicate the clinical trial benefits available within our network on a global scale.”
Commenting on the MOU, Novotech Executive Director for Asia Operations Dr. Yooni Kim said “The SCI-Consortium is truly an innovator within its field. The MOU formalises our longstanding relationship with the SCIC and provides access to their impressive network of investigators and de-identified patient database. In return, Novotech will co-promote the SCIC and the strength of its clinical trial offering to our global client base.”
“Greater Seoul is the second largest metropolitan city in the world with almost 26 million people. This sheer scale of the hospitals, quality of the infrastructure and technology and concentration of key opinion leaders has created one of the world’s most impressive clinical trial destinations,” said Novotech CEO Dr. John Moller, “We are continually impressed with the efficiency of the regulatory system and quality of support provided by South Korea’s clinical trial institutions. Our MOU with SCIC is another strong example of our commitment to undertaking clinical trials in South Korea.”
For more information about the benefits of undertaking a clinical trial in South Korea with Novotech or RFP enquiries,
please contact us via www.novotech-cro.com/contact-us
About the Severance Hospital, Yonsei University Health System, Seoul, South Korea
Severance Hospital was the founder of modern medical science in Korea with the establishment of Kwang Hye Won in 1885 by Dr. Horace N. Allen, missionary doctor, and has been serving the national health for the last 130 years as the leading organization among the medical institutions in this country. In pursuit of the quality improvement of medical service through the specialization of medical examinations and treatments for the first time in Korea, Severance Hospital manages the Cancer Center, Rehabilitation Hospital, Cardiovascular Hospital, EYE & ENT Hospital, Childrens Hospital, Emergency Care Center, International Health Care Center and Specialized Clinic. In addition, Severance Hospital has created a new medical culture focused on customers through the investigation of a customer satisfaction survey, Quality Improvement Division management and Service Manual manufacture, following the first Korean promulgation of the 'Patient's Bill of Rights' in 1993.
www.yuhs.or.kr/en/about_yuhs/YUMC_brochure/index.asp
About The SCI-Consortium
The SCI-Consortium’s innovative model of integrated CTCs provides solutions to the identified obstacles and inefficiency inherent in the conventional systems of drug development starting from the beginning. In specific, a new paradigm is needed with regard to patient recruitment strategies, running investigator networks, the streamlining of operations and administrative works, improving efficiency through simplification and harmonization of policies and procedures, and strengthening our capacity and capabilities in quality improvement and management. In addition, scientific collaboration between clinicians and drug discovery groups gets more attentions from industrial partners. This is expected to lessen the risk associated with clinical proof-of-concept. The collaboration will be applied not only to various therapeutic areas, but also to niche areas such as rare disease, cell therapy and so on. SCI-C will provide services customized to the needs of our clients, and suggest guidance on the way to successful global drug development.
SCI-C initiated 930 clinical trials out of 1,935 nationally accumulated record for last three years and the portion in each year is about 50% of the total number of clinical trials approved by MFDS* in Korea. The number of global pharma-sponsored clinical trials can be often considered as an important index in judging the quality of trial sites. SCI-C has conducted 175 of 254 trials in year 2013, which is equivalent to 69% of the total. This occupancy seems to continue for three years in a row, indicating that SCI-C hospitals are world-widely recognized as good performance sites.
www.sci-c.org/ko/community/download.php
About Novotech - www.novotech-cro.com
Headquartered in Sydney, Novotech is internationally recognised as the leading regional full-service contract research organisation (CRO). With a focus on clinical monitoring, Novotech has been instrumental in the success of hundreds of Phase I - IV clinical trials in the Asia Pacific region.
Novotech provides clinical development services across all clinical trial phases and therapeutic areas including: feasibility assessments; ethics committee and regulatory submissions, data management, statistical analysis, medical monitoring, safety services, central lab services, report write-up to ICH requirements, project and vendor management. Novotech’s strong Asia Pacific presence included running clinical trials in all key regional markets. Novotech also has worldwide reach through the company's network of strategic partners.
Corporate enquiries: Please contact Marketing & Communications Justine Lamond on +61 2 8569 1458 or communications@novotech-cro.com
[1] Frost & Sullivan, Asia: Preferred Destination for Clinical Trials, 2017