EU Register of Clinical Trials is launched On-line: EMA starts efficiency process

All European Union citizens will now have access to information on the thousands of authorized pharmaceutical clinical trials that are underway in the EU, the Commission announced yesterday.

The aim of this official public register is to make clinical research on pharmaceuticals more transparent for patients and others and to avoid unnecessary duplication of clinical trials. Every year around 4,000 clinical trials are authorized in the EU. Since most of them last two to three years, this means that around 10 000 trials are ongoing at any given time.

John Dalli, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, said: "The register launched today is good news for patients as it will allow them to get easier information about clinical trials going on in the EU, possibly giving access to important new treatment. It is also of great interest to health care professionals and carers, the research community and industry."