EVICR.net links to national Ophthalmological Societies
According to Prof. Carlos Marques Neves, ophthalmologist at the Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte / Hospital de Santa Maria (Lisbon, Portugal) and coordinator of the Portuguese Group of Retina and Vitreous of the SPO, the Portuguese Society of Ophthalmology, one of the topics highlighted in this session, whose organisation coordinated, was “the creation of a nucleus of studies of trials clinics in Ophthalmology, working under the SPO in articulation with the centers of reference at the national level”.
According to him, “there is a need, already identified, for training on the organisation & conduction of clinical trials in Ophthalmology”. Therefore, “it is intended to promote the sharing of knowledge in this field, with the collaboration of Industry, research centres, regulatory authorities, hospitals, private clinics, among other organisms,” says Carlos Marques Neves, who is also a professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon, Portugal.
The symposium counted also with the contribution of two other ophthalmologists dedicated to teaching and research – Prof. Ângela Carneiro (ophthalmologist at the Hospital Center of São João, Oporto, Portugal and professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Oporto) and João Figueira (ophthalmologist at the Hospital and University Center of Coimbra and professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra, Portugal). “In fact, I consider important the existence of an organisational support in the SPO that supports the clinical research ophthalmologists”; says João Figueira.
Expert in Ophthalmology at the portuguese Ethics Committee for Clinical Research (CEIC), Dr. João Branco, who is also coordinator of the Surgical Retina Section of the Central Hospital of Lisbon, addressed the legal and ethical aspects of clinical trials. The fifth intervention at this symposium was from Dr. Cecilia Martinho, CEO of EVICR.net and Director of AIBILI. AIBILI is the Coordinating Centre of the European Network of Clinical Research in Ophthalmology (EVICR.net). “This network already includes 101 clinical research centres, from 15 European countries, including 15 Portuguese centres,” says Cecília Martinho. According to her, clinical research “is strongly regulated and becomes more complex when it is a multinational clinical study, because it is necessary to deal with the legislations and specificities of each country.” It was precisely to respond to these difficulties that EVICR.net was created.