NorTrials Celebrated 2 Years: The Important Work Must Go On

This was stated by the State Secretary in HOD, Ellen Rønning-Arnesen (Ap), when she opened the 2-year anniversary of NorTrials on Friday, 24^th of May. She filled in for the Minister of Health and Care Services, Jan Christian Vestre. Around 100 people gathered at the Radisson Blu Scandinavia in Oslo, with just as many following the live stream.

- NorTrials is an innovation. In just two years, NorTrials has quickly gained momentum, becoming a visible stakeholder both nationally and internationally, said Arnesen. -Vestre, in his role as Minister of Trade and Industry, has closely followed NorTrials’ progress, and I know he looks forward to following along even more closely in his new role. When Vestre and Kjerkol earlier this year named the health industry as the new national export initiative, the continued development of NorTrials was one of the 15 measures aimed at doubling export revenues for the health industry by 2030. NorTrials is a prime example of collaboration between the specialist health services and the health industry, said Arnesen.

She emphasized that the decline in the number of clinical studies from 2022-23 does not change the government’s plans to continue the goals of the Action Plan for Clinical Trials beyond the original project period, 2021-2025.

- As NorTrials approaches 2025 and the final year of the action plan, it is important that we have a clear goal. And we do. We want to continue the good collaboration from when the plan was originally developed. Therefore, the ministry will send out an invitation for a dialogue meeting with broad participation before summer – continuing to build on the successful model that has brought us to this point. The purpose of the meeting is to review the status, gather experiences, and assess how the vision, goals, and activities can be followed up. So, 2025 is not an end date, but rather a point to see what we can do next. Our ambition remains firm: clinical research should become an integral part of all patient treatment and clinical practice, and far more patients should have the opportunity to participate in clinical trials. I sincerely hope that as many as possible will want to contribute to this work; the momentum must continue. We see that this work is extremely important, said Arnesen.

During the three-hour-long meeting, the six NorTrials centers gave a status report about their experiences so far. In addition, the industry, hospital management, Innovation Norway, and NorCRIN reflected in a panel discussion on what needs to be done moving forward. We received the health industry’s perspective on what NorTrials means to them, and the health service’s perspective on the feasibility portal – from request to start-up. The Norwegian Cancer Society explained what clinical trials mean for patients, and finally, the audience received a Nordic perspective from NorTrials’ equivalent initiatives in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland.

Here you can watch the entire meeting recording (we apologize for some technical issues; the banner disappears from the screen after the break): https://play.quickchannel.com/play/p6ui9h4