ECRIN and the Swiss Clinical Trial Organisation (SCTO) are very pleased to announce that Switzerland officially became an ECRIN-ERIC Member country on 22 May 2023. Switzerland has been an ECRIN Observer country since December 2015, and its request for an ECRIN membership has been approved at the Assembly of Members meeting held in Warsaw on 22 May 2023. This membership came about as a result of the request by the Swiss Federal Council submitted on 13 April 2022. Switzerland is represented in the Assembly of Members by a delegate from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). The Member status will enable Switzerland to have full access to ECRIN services.

Since Switzerland joined ECRIN in 2015, it has taken part in numerous ECRIN activities, counting more than twenty multinational clinical trials or infrastructure projects, including platform trials on COVID-19. With the transition of Switzerland to ECRIN Member, ECRIN’s network now counts 12 Member countries and 1 Observer country. The total reach of the ECRIN network covers over 361 million European citizens, with an average of 6.5 countries per trial.

“We are delighted that Switzerland is now a full member of the ECRIN community. ECRIN and its network are very important partners for us to strengthen academic clinical research across borders and countries. We fully support ECRIN’s mission to foster multinational clinical studies in Europe for the benefit of all patients and society at large. We look forward to continuing our close cooperation and the connection of the academic Swiss research community, through SCTO’s research infrastructure, to multinational clinical research in Europe.”

- Victoria Sarraf, Managing Director, SCTO.

The SCTO represents, in the ECRIN Network Committee, a research infrastructure comprising a large coordinated CTU Network across Switzerland relying not only on extensive knowledge in academic clinical research but a strong commitment and growing experience with Patient and Public Involvement. The SCTO hosts the European Correspondent, the national contact point for ECRIN. Under the roof of the SCTO Platforms, a suite of harmonised practical tools has been developed, that are publicly available for clinical research, not only at national but also international level.

“We are very pleased with the request, and the approval, of Switzerland for an ECRIN membership. We have been working successfully with the Swiss clinical research community for years, and we look forward to continuing working closely in a structured manner for the long term. The ECRIN membership of Switzerland shows the profound mutual commitment to develop and contribute to the national and international scientific community for clinical research.”

- Christine Kubiak, Operations Director, ECRIN.