New technology platform for clinical trials

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) has launched a new technology platform for clinical trials. According to a press release, this digital Trial Intervention Platform (dTIP) should in future support researchers as they conduct clinical trials. In January 2021, ETH started work on setting up the platform before declaring it operational at the start of February. The platform is designed above all to support basic researchers who are less familiar with the specific requirements of clinical research by allowing them to benefit from prior experiences and exploit synergistic potential.

“The platform offers consultation and assistance for every phase of human trials. Support either for specific aspects or entire clinical studies can be requested”, explains Jörg Goldhahn Head of the ETH Institute of Translational Medicine and Director of the dTIP Steering Committee, in the press release. The new technology platform is designed to ensure that potentially meaningful ideas do not fail before the trial can even be started, according to the ETH press release. For this reason, it provides the requisite structures for uniform testing of newly developed treatment approaches in terms of efficacy and reliability in humans. The new platform reports to Detlef Günther, ETH Vice President for Research, who is quoted in the press release, stating: “Given the rising expectations of more effective prevention and treatment, and increasingly complex regulations, ETH sees professionalizing clinical research as a logical and essential step”.

The platform will initially be available at a handful of locations, one of which is Kantonsspital Baden (KSB), before being rolled out in Zurich at ETH’s new GLC development and lab building. Construction of the GLC has now reached the final stage. Plans are also in place to collaborate with other clinical partners.

In the area of translational activities, the focus of which is on the implementation of research findings in healthcare settings, ETH is working together with the Wellcome Trust, a London-based foundation that promotes medical research. Katherine Anastasi-​Frankovics, Director of Innovations at the Wellcome Trust, discusses the joint venture in the press release, explaining that: “Wellcome and ETH Zurich share the vision that dismantling barriers in translational science is crucial to solving global health challenges”.