We facilitate and promote clinical research in paediatrics.
The Swiss Research Network of Clinical Pediatric Hubs (SwissPedNet) facilitates national research in paediatrics on a countrywide scale and thus meets an unmet and urgent need for paediatric translational and clinical studies. Currently, about 300 clinical research projects are being run at the SwissPedNet’s member institutions.
SwissPedNet consists of nine clinical paediatric hubs throughout Switzerland: within the five university children’s hospitals in Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, and Zurich as well as in the cantonal children's hospitals in Aarau, Lucerne, St. Gallen, and the Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (EOC) in Ticino. These paediatric hubs are complemented by two platforms: SwissPedPha and SwissPedRegistry. SwissPedPha provides services in paediatric pharmacology for all hubs; SwissPedRegistry works together with relevant organ and disease specialists to coordinate several national paediatric registries and cohort studies. SwissPedNet has become a reliable partner for researching paediatricians in their institutions; the SwissPedNet Coordinator is located at the SCTO.
To support young paediatric researchers, SwissPedNet organises regular get-togethers – for example the Translational and Clinical Research Session, which has become a yearly fixed point in young researchers’ agendas since 2013, and the annual NextGen Research Day, which offers young paediatricians training and opportunities for exchange and interaction.
Via the SCTO, SwissPedNet is a beneficiary of three European project consortia granted by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme (PedCRIN and Id-EPTRI projects) and the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI2 project conect4children (c4c)). SwissPedNet is a member of these consortia and acts as the Swiss hub. This European connection increases the visibility of SwissPedNet in Europe and brings interesting study projects to Switzerland.
PedCRIN is the paediatric branch of ECRIN with the aim to develop capacity for the management of multinational paediatric non-commercial clinical trials. PedCRIN was launched on 1 January 2017. During its 4-year term, PedCRIN effectively bridged paediatricians and other partners across Europe to combine resources and expertise and to developed useful tools to conduct and manage robust studies, while minimising risk and protecting the child participants.
CONECT4CHILDREN (c4c) is a large collaborative European network that aims to facilitate the development of new drugs and other therapies for the entire paediatric population. It is a collaborative effort between industry and academia and is funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme and IMI2 Research and Innovation Actions (RIA). It was launched in May 2018 and will last for six years (until April 2024). c4c is a pioneering initiative that builds capacity to implement multinational paediatric clinical trials whilst ensuring that the needs of babies, children, youth, and their families are met. c4c is currently conducting three investigator-initiated proof-of-viability studies. Two of the studies (cASPerCF and TREOCAPA) have sites in Switzerland, and four of the nine clinical paediatric hubs of SwissPedNet are involved. Switzerland was the first country after France (the sponsor country) to recruit patients for TREOCAPA, a neonatology study. cASPerCF opens in 2021.