KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 (Bernama) -- Clinical Research Malaysia (CRM), a site management organization owned by the Ministry of Health has successfully achieved its formation objective in 2020, as highlighted in its Annual Report 2020 which was launched earlier today by Minister of Health, YB Dato’ Sri Dr Adham Baba in CRM’s Facebook Live event.

The event which was held in conjunction with International Clinical Trials Day, also saw the announcement of the six recipients of CRM Sponsored Research Awards 2021, in recognition of their significant contribution in clinical research achievements. Clinicians who received the award include Dr. Soo Hoo Hwoei Fen (Clinical Oncologist) from Hospital Pulau Pinang and Associate Professor Dr. Lim Soo Kun (Nephrologist) from University of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) for contributing towards good clinical trial patient recruitment and high number of sponsored research uptake respectively. UMMC and Hospital Kuala Lumpur were both recognized as Clinical Trial Site of the Year for being among the top sites in the nation that conducted high number of sponsored studies in 2020. Janssen (Pharmaceutical companies of Johnson & Johnson), received Sponsor of the Year award for bringing in the highest value of new trials in 2020, while IQVIA Malaysia received CRO of the Year award for contracting the highest number of new clinical trials in 2020.

Clinical Research Malaysia was established in 2012 as an Entry Point Project under the Healthcare National Key Economic Area. The vision was to drive more sponsored research into the country, contributing towards the economy and societal gains. By end of 2020, CRM have succeeded in all its formation goals which saw 1591 new sponsored research, with more than 2000 skilled jobs created and RM 608 million Gross National Income (GNI) generated, making it one of the few successful government-owned organizations that have delivered the targets it was set to achieve.

To date, Malaysia has over 200 hospitals and health care centers that have conducted sponsored research, “Clinical trials bring hope and potentially offer better treatment options to patients as they may benefit from receiving the latest and innovative treatment options that may not yet be available in a country,” said Dr. Adham.

CRM’s aim to strengthen the clinical research ecosystem in the country have also contributed to intangible benefits on public healthcare access. Through CRM and MOH’s collaborative work with Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), new affordable treatment regimens are now made available to Hepatitis C patients, paving the way for the nation to eradicate the disease by year 2030. Since the advent of Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, CRM has participated in multiple engagements with companies as well as inter-ministerial discussions, consulting on the opportunities to conduct COVID-19 treatment and vaccine trials in the country, such as the SOLIDARITY trial by World Health Organisation (WHO) and in Malaysia’s first Covid-19 vaccine trial by the Institute of Medical Biology Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (IMBCAMS). CRM have also completed its Phase 1 Realization Project (P1RP) which was initiated to build the nation’s early phase clinical research capability and thus enabling patients’ access to more innovative treatment trials at an early phase of clinical development. Culmination from this groundwork, the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) and the Medical Research & Ethics Committee (MREC) have recently approved a First-in-Patient hematology study in Sarawak General Hospital.

CRM remains steadfast in ensuring deliverance of speed, quality, and reliability in the services it provides. The organisation has been certified with ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System since early 2019 and has completed its second subsequent year of SIRIM surveillance audit with recommendation for continual of certification. In 2019, the audit report from the National Audit Department recognized CRM as being efficient in managing clinical research. This year, CRM will pursue the ISO 37001: 2016 Anti-Bribery Management System, pledging its commitment towards being a global trusted research management organization.  Moving forward, CRM looks to expand its business into home health nursing, study material destruction and using social media to attract more research opportunities. Within the CRM team, the management and employees will continue to embrace teamwork, empowerment, and communication by further escalating on the company’s endeavours of its four key strategies, delivering operations excellence with the continued progress of clinical research in Malaysia. 

About Clinical Research Malaysia (CRM) 
Established by Malaysian Ministry of Health in 2012, Clinical Research Malaysia exists to advance global health solutions for a brighter, more hopeful future for the people by providing speedy and reliable end-to-end clinical research support for quality studies. CRM’s innate understanding of the local clinical research landscape with the international standards of operations coupled with fundamental backing of the government ministries provides the organisation an incomparable advantage to work with partners from the nascent stages of development to materialisation of the end product, in order to deliver better treatment and high-skilled job opportunities.

Recipients of Sponsored Research Awards 2021:
· Top Recruiter Award: Dr Soo Hoo Howei Fen (Hospital Pulau Pinang) for significant patient recruitment achievement in studies initiated in 2020.
· Investigator of the Year Award: Associate Professor Dr Lim Soo Kun (University of Malaya Medical Centre) for being Principal Investigator to the highest number of new sponsored research in 2020.
· Clinical Trial Site of the Year Award (Overall): University of Malaya Medical Centre for having highest number of studies awarded in 2020.
· Clinical Trial Site of the Year Award (MOH): Hospital Kuala Lumpur for having highest number of studies awarded in 2020 among MOH sites and for significant growth in number of studies compared to years before.
· Sponsor of the Year Award: Janssen (Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson) for contributing highest cumulative study value in 2020 and among top contributor for new studies of 2020.
· CRO of the Year Award: IQVIA RDS Malaysia Sdn Bhd for contracting highest number of new clinical trials and the highest number of trial sites initiated in 2020.

Source:  Clinical Research Malaysia (CRM) 

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Name: Asha Thanabalan 
Tel: +6012- 364 8043 / +603-7931 5566 (ext. 122)
Email: asha@clinicalresearch.my