National Institute of Health, Clinical Research Information Service Registrations Surpass 10,000 Cases

As of January this year, a total of 10,110 registrations

The number of research registrations in the Clinical Research Information Service (CRIS) of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) National Institute of Health has surpassed 10,000. This service is a platform that allows users to view the status of clinical research conducted in Korea at a glance.

Since its launch in February 2010, CRIS has continuously grown by encouraging voluntary clinical research registration participation from domestic researchers. Among the 17 national representative registration systems designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP), CRIS was designated as the 11th. All registered clinical studies are transmitted to the international clinical trials registry platform and shared globally.

By registering clinical research, researchers can enhance ethical standards and disclose results to satisfy the right to know of the public and research subjects. From a policy perspective, it helps minimize unnecessary risk exposure to research subjects and duplication of research funding.

According to the KDCA on the 23rd, since the mandatory submission of CRIS registration numbers following the enforcement of the Ministry of Health and Welfare's notice on "Standards for Applying Health Insurance Benefits to Clinical Research" in May 2018, the annual average number of registrations by researchers has reached 1,087. As of January this year, the total number of clinical research registrations publicly available on the CRIS website is 10,110.

Among the registered clinical studies, neoplasm-related (cancer and leukemia) accounted for the largest number with 1,713 cases (16.9%), followed by circulatory system diseases (hypertension, heart and cerebrovascular diseases) with 1,167 cases (11.5%), musculoskeletal and connective tissue diseases with 1,071 cases (10.6%), digestive system diseases with 797 cases (7.9%), and endocrine, nutritional, and metabolic diseases (diabetes, obesity) with 626 cases (6.2%). The primary institutions responsible for the registered studies were medical institutions with 6,973 cases (69.0%), followed by universities with 1,694 cases (16.8%) and pharmaceutical companies with 608 cases (6.0%). Clinical studies receiving health insurance benefits accounted for a total of 1,581 cases (21.1%) of all research.

Park Hyun-young, director of the National Institute of Health, said, "CRIS, operated by the National Institute of Health, has contributed to elevating the domestic clinical research environment to a world-class level by sharing transparent and reliable clinical research information internationally." She added, "Marking the milestone of surpassing 10,000 registrations, we will further promote the importance of clinical research registration and strive to foster a transparent clinical research culture, including voluntary sharing of clinical research results by researchers."