SEOUL, South Korea, July 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Asia Pacific specialist CRO Novotech announced today that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with South Korea's SCI-Consortium of Clinical Trial Centers and its representative hospital, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University Health System.
The SCI-Consortium (SCIC) is a network of clinical trial centres comprising four of South Korea's leading hospitals: Yonsei University Health System (Severance Hospital and Gangnam Severance Hospital), The Catholic University of Korea St Mary's Hospital and Inha University Hospital.
The network provides clinical trial access to over 1,500 investigators[1], almost 6,000 hospital beds and more than seven million patients per year[2]. One of the SCIC's key strengths is its clinical trial data system with more than ten million de-identified records. Its vast database provides easy identification of potential eligible patients, allowing much faster clinical trial recruitment. At present, the SCIC has over 30,000 active patients enrolled in clinical studies[1].
Under the terms of the MOU, Severance Hospital as representative of SCIC will provide professional and medical advice to Novotech for clinical trials conducted at the four hospitals; including feasibility, principal investigator selection and assistance with patient recruitment. Novotech will assist in promoting the clinical research capabilities of the SCIC internationally. Both parties have agreed to continue expanding the future scope of the collaboration.
Speaking for the SCIC, Director Prof. Jae Yong Sim from Severance Hospital said, "The SCIC has pooled together resources such as patient databases, investigator networks and expertise, while maximizing the cooperation between university hospitals, research and business development. Key offerings such as our databases not only help to identify patients rapidly, but also allow feasible protocols to be designed[1]. Our MOU with Novotech will help the SCIC to communicate the clinical trial benefits available within our network on a global scale."
Commenting on the MOU, Novotech Executive Director for Asia Operations Dr. Yooni Kim said, "The SCI-Consortium is truly an innovator within its field. The MOU formalises our longstanding relationship with the SCIC and provides access to their impressive network of investigators and de-identified patient database. In return, Novotech will co-promote the SCIC and the strength of its clinical trial offering to our global client base."
"Greater Seoul is the second largest metropolitan city in the world with almost 26 million people. This sheer scale of the hospitals, quality of the infrastructure and technology and concentration of key opinion leaders has created one of the world's most impressive clinical trial destinations," said Novotech CEO Dr. John Moller, "We are continually impressed with the efficiency of the regulatory system and quality of support provided by South Korea's clinical trial institutions. Our MOU with SCIC is another strong example of our commitment to undertaking clinical trials in South Korea."
For more information about the benefits of undertaking a clinical trial in South Korea with Novotech or RFP enquiries, please contact us via www.novotech-cro.com/contact-us-0
About the Severance Hospital, Yonsei University Health System, Seoul, South Korea
www.yuhs.or.kr/en/about_yuhs/YUMC_brochure/index.asp
About The SCI-Consortium
www.sci-c.org/ko/community/download.php
About Novotech - www.novotech-cro.com
Corporate enquiries
Marketing & Communications Justine Lamond
Ph: +61 2 8569 1458 / Email: communications@novotech-cro.com
