'Clinical Trials Day' Ceremony... Awards for Contributions to COVID-19 Vaccine and Treatment Development

The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Clinical Trial Support Foundation held a commemorative event for the '2023 Clinical Trials Day' on the afternoon of the 16th at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul.

World Clinical Trials Day was established to commemorate the first modern clinical trial conducted by British naval surgeon James Lind on May 20, 1747, during a voyage to treat scurvy among sailors.

Commemoration Ceremony of Clinical Trials Day. [Photo by Ministry of Health and Welfare]

The event was organized to encourage those who contributed to the advancement of clinical trials, including the development of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics and the development of a decentralized clinical trial demonstration model.

Seunghoon Han, Associate Professor at the Catholic University School of Medicine, who developed a mobile-based decentralized clinical trial system, and Eehwa Bae, Director at Korea BMS Pharmaceutical who operated a private consortium for decentralized clinical trials, received commendations from the Minister of Health and Welfare. In total, 15 clinical trial experts and practitioners were awarded commendations.

Jeong Eun-young, Director of the Health Industry Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated, "South Korea's global clinical trial share ranks fifth in the world, and the excellent clinical trial workforce and infrastructure, along with an innovative clinical trial ecosystem linking industry, academia, and hospitals, played a key role in the development of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics. Moving forward, we will continuously promote clinical trial innovations such as global clinical trial execution and decentralized clinical trials to develop blockbuster new drugs and advance South Korea as a top five pharmaceutical powerhouse."

Park In-seok, Chairman of the National Clinical Trial Support Foundation, said, "Through the public clinical trial support services operated during the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to confirm that the speed and cost of clinical trials were reduced while ensuring stable participant management. Based on the accumulated experience, we plan to operate a clinical trial support center that assists clinical trial participants with registration, consultation, and researcher linkage."