The pharmaceutical division of multinational F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, which currently is engaged in more than 50 clinical trials in Portugal, today announced it will invest in a further €20 million over two years.
The company stated today that the current 50 clinical trials are taking place in 30 hospitals and 143 test centers involving 400 patients and over 500 health professionals.
"Clinical trials are but one stage in the process of creating a drug. From the initial stage to the day when a new drug comes to the market, on average 12 years has elapsed corresponding to seven million hours of work, 6,585 trials and the involvement of a team of 423 researchers."
The announcement of the €20 million spend in Portugal came on the same day that Roche announced a conference that aims to "promote debate and a new insight into clinical research developed in Portugal."
The body that regulates the drug industry in Portugal said in May, that currently there are 353 clinical trials taking place in Portugal.
The National Authority of Medicines and Health Products (Infarmed) said that "the vast majority of these trials take place in hospitals and test centres" and that "the main therapeutic research areas of these clinical trials are oncology, nervous system diseases and infectious diseases."
The trials may involve up to 12,000 people but Infarmed says it does not have the exact numbers.
Meanwhile, a new list of Portugal’s top performing hospitals was released today which showed Faro in 7th place, much improved as traditionally it has not appeared on the list which ranks the top 28 in the country.
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