Health
Spain takes part in European repository of clinical research metadata on Corona
Pandemic requires research join forces
(Source: ISCIII)
The Spanish Clinical Trials Platform (Spanish acronym: SCREN), financed by the Carlos III Health Institute (Spanish acronym: ISCIII), a body attached to the Ministry of Science and Innovation, is taking part in a repository of clinical research metadata set up by the European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network (ECRIN) with the aim of sharing useful information for the launch of clinical trials related to COVID-19.
The pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 requires that researchers join forces around the world to improve diagnoses, find treatments and develop a vaccine, and hence sharing research data is a critical step in this endeavour at global cooperation. In this context, ECRIN has decided to set up a COVID-19 working group with its national partners and launch this repository of metadata, which contains information on the disease, including information as a result of studies that are being carried on at clinical centres and that may be useful for the launch and design of new trials.
The repository of clinical research metadata will serve to see the existing clinical studies and related elements, such as protocols, information sheets and consent forms, data management plans, statistical analysis plans, case report forms, results, publications and descriptive metadata, among others. All of these are important actions and can serve for the design and implementation of the studies, states Gonzalo Arévalo, Assistant Director of the International Department of ISCIII.
The repository is available free of charge for all scientific researchers that work on clinical research and is particularly useful for those that are working on COVID-19. The system is periodically updated through the gathering of data from the most important information sources around the world, from New Zealand to the Netherlands, and from Japan to the Lebanon. The current repository of clinical research metadata is the first beta version of the platform; ECRIN is updating the content of the platform regularly while working on new versions.
Furthermore, ECRIN has set up the COVID-19 working group to administer and deploy tools and services that help scientific research into COVID-19. Information has been published related to the web page of ECRIN, for example, on reviews of literature on COVID-19, rounds of proposals for funding, international trial registers and regulatory and ethical consideration for trials in progress during the pandemic.
This initiative is framed within the coordinated efforts being made by the different pan-European infrastructures to place all of the resources that may be useful in research on COVID-19 at the service of the research and clinical community, which are, in turn, an integral part of the European Plan against the Coronavirus (ERAvsCORONA Action Plan).
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