The Slovak Republic is now a full Member of the ECRIN community

The Slovak Republic has officially become a full ECRIN Member. Slovakia has been an Observer country since 2018, and its request for full membership was approved during the Assembly of Members meeting in Paris on January 27, 2025. Slovakia is represented by its national scientific partner, SLOVACRIN (Slovak Clinical Research Infrastructure Network), based at the Faculty of Medicine, Pavol Jozef ?afárik University in Ko?ice.

As a Member SlovaCRIN has acquired the right to vote in ECRIN’s deciding body, the Assembly of Members. The appointment of a national representative to the Assembly of Members will take place shortly. Meanwhile, Beata Cecetkova, MD, PhD has been designated as Slovakia's representative in the Network Committee.

SlovaCRIN, the national hub for non-commercial clinical trials in Slovakia

SLOVACRIN, a distributed research infrastructure, links hospitals, universities and scientific institutions involved in academic clinical research across the country. The network currently consists of 23 institutions, including university and faculty hospitals, specialised hospitals, networks of private hospitals, universities, and scientific institutions.

The national infrastructure aims to enhance both the quantity and quality of academically initiated clinical trials in Slovakia. It leverages existing capacity, expertise, and advancements in medical research and development while fostering a network of Clinical Trial Units (CTUs) to support the effective implementation of clinical trials.

Clinical trials conducted by academic entities can focus directly on the current needs of the Slovak population in each therapeutic area. When conducting clinical trials within the EU, the same rules apply to all sponsors in terms of conduct, oversight and safety, regardless of whether the sponsor is a commercial entity, pharmaceutical company, or academic sponsor. To ensure an adequate level of performance in academic clinical trials, SLOVACRIN provides specialised services to academic institutions and sponsors in this field.

The SLOVACRIN infrastructure provides a complete service for clinical trials organised by medical researchers. It supports the preparation and implementation of academic clinical trials in Slovakia including multinational trials, provides clinical trial management and complete project management, regulatory activities, monitoring and pharmacovigilance for national and multinational academic clinical trials. It supports investigators and study teams in the preparation and implementation of clinical trials according to Good Clinical Practice (GCP).

Your local European Correspondent, Simona Sonderlichová , is your first point of contact (https://slovacrin.sk/en/contact/). She can further detail all the support available to national researchers and on the structure of the organisation. The role of the National Hub is to provide information to healthcare facilities and sponsors on their new obligations under the Regulation and the new Clinical Trials Information System, and to assist in the registration of individual healthcare facilities in the European Medicines Agency’s Organisation Management Services (OMS) system.

Learn more about SlovaCRIN: https://slovacrin.sk/en/

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Roadmap for Academic Clinical Research

In collaboration with institutions within the national network, SLOVACRIN has developed a Roadmap for Academic Clinical Research, providing a comprehensive analysis of the current landscape of clinical research in healthcare institutions. This roadmap offers a detailed assessment of existing capacities, challenges, and opportunities, serving as a strategic framework to enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of academic clinical research in Slovakia.

It also maps the implementation of the Order No. 4/2018 of the Minister of Health of the Slovak Republic, by which the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic instructed subordinate healthcare institutions conducting biomedical research to establish specialised organisational units for biomedical research and to integrate them into their organisational structure.

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Open discussion with the Slovak Clinical Research Community: Clinical Trials Day 2025

In May SlovaCRIN will host its national clinical trials day, bringing together hospitals and university networks, researchers, national agencies and ministries. Over the course of the two-day event, the various actors will be brought to discuss collaboration efforts. Stay tuned to the SlovaCRIN website for more details, when they are available.

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