Report looks at impact of new law governing clinical trials in Switzerland

Clinical trials in Switzerland have been the subject of a new report carried out by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH).

The FOPH interviewed a number of key Swiss companies and organizations for the research, including pharma majors Roche (ROG: SIX), Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), Novartis (NOVN: VX) (pictured, based in Basel) and Basilea Pharmaceutica (SIX: BSLN). The report looked at how the new Swiss Human Research Law will impact selected stakeholder groups and the Swiss economy in general. The law will fundamentally affect all clinical trials conducted by companies in Switzerland.

SFL Regulatory Affairs & Scientific Communication consultants were asked for a regulatory impact assessment of the new ordinances. They explained the background to the new law is that, like countries in the European Union, Switzerland has experienced a noticeable drop in clinical trials being conducted in the country. There has been a 45% drop in numbers of clinical trials, from 400 to 225, in Switzerland between 2004 and 2011, with decentralized and lengthy procedures for approval cited as contributory factors. SFL explained that the new Swiss law on human research aims to reverse this trend by introducing more streamlined and faster processes to facilitate a “R&D-friendly” approach.