KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 (Bernama) -- Malaysia has surpassed the RM1 billion mark in gross national income of clinical research contract value generated since 2012. The country also reported more than 2000 sponsored research in the last decade, and ranks third among Southeast Asia countries in this field. This was revealed during the CRM Trial Connect 2023 launched by the Minister of Health, YB Dr. Zaliha Mustafa.
 
During the event, the Minister along with the conference delegates celebrated International Clinical Trials Day, a day that honours and acknowledges the contribution of patient volunteers, investigators, study team, and all who are involved in clinical trials. The CRM Sponsored Research Awards was presented by YB Dr Zaliha to outstanding achievers in sponsored clinical research in the country. Among clinician investigators who received the awards include Dr Voon Pei Jye (Oncologist) from Sarawak General Hospital and Dr Sharon Ng (Physician) from Ampang Hospital who were the recipient of Top Investigator and Top Recruiter awards, respectively.
 
Sarawak General Hospital and University Malaya Medical Centre were both recognized as Top Study Site for conducting high numbers of sponsored studies in 2022. Meanwhile, Novartis received ‘Sponsor of the Year’ for bringing in the highest number of trials, while IQVIA Malaysia received ‘CRO of the Year’ award for contracting the highest number of new clinical trials last year.
 
The conference organized by Clinical Research Malaysia (CRM) saw the participation of 520 attendees from 105 local and international organizations, and is the only platform organized specifically for sponsored clinical research in the country. The attendees comprise of clinician investigators, study coordinators, regulators, industry members, ethics committee members, as well as allied health professionals from the public, private and academia who are involved in clinical research.
 
YB Dr Zaliha in her keynote address mentioned, “In order to attract multinationals to conduct trials in Malaysia, we must do well, to continually build confidence by delivering good quality data from clinical trials, meeting and overachieving recruitment targets, and ensuring the ease in conducting clinical trials in the country through efficient systems in place and regulatory reforms that makes Malaysia more competitive within the region, if not globally”.
 
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 CRM Sponsored Research Awards 2023:
 
· Investigator of the Year Award: Dr Voon Pei Jye (Sarawak General Hospital) for having recorded the highest number of new sponsored research in 2022, in addition to having co-authored 6 publications on global studies.
· Top Recruiter Award: Dr Sharon Ng Shi Min (Hospital Ampang) for achieving the highest recruitment number from a single study initiated in Year 2022.
· Significant Advancement Award (Investigator): Dr Lily Wong Lee Lee (Queen Elizabeth Hospital), for demonstrating a significant increase in sponsored studies for the year 2022, compared to the years before.
· Top Study Site (Overall) Award: University of Malaya Medical Centre for having highest number of studies awarded in 2022, as well as being top oncology, hemato-oncology and infectious diseases study site.
· Top Study Site (MOH) Award: Sarawak General Hospital for being among top MOH sites in number of studies awarded in 2022 and top oncology site within MOH.
· Significant Advancement Award (Site): Queen Elizabeth Hospital for being among the top hematology and hemato-oncology study sites in the country, and in making significant growth in number of studies conducted compared to the years before.
· Sponsor of the Year Award: Novartis for contributing highest number of new studies in 2022 and contributing among highest cumulative study value in 2022.
· CRO of the Year Award: IQVIA RDS Malaysia Sdn Bhd for contracting highest cumulative study value in 2022 and contributing highest number of new studies in 2022. 

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  

--BERNAMA