The Webinar entitled: Clinical Studies – The Importance for the Patient, the Doctor and the Health System, was successfully held on Friday 11 February 2022 by the Research and Education Institute for Biomedical Sciences (REIBS). This webinar aimed to introduce the field of clinical studies to undergraduate and postgraduate students of the Schools of Health Sciences (Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing).

The Webinar was attended by distinguished speakers and the main objectives were:

• To present the positions of all stakeholders involved in clinical trials, such as regulatory bodies, doctors, clinical pharmacists, CROs and patients.
• To highlight the key role of clinical trials in treatment and the possibility for patients to have access to innovative therapies in accredited centers, ensuring a high level and excellent quality of health services.
• To highlight their importance, regarding job creation and the improvement of existing health structures and clinics as well as the possibility of new job positions.
• To present the basic principles and framework for planning, conducting and monitoring a clinical study.
• To present the institutional framework, the European regulation and adaptations.
• To assess the impact of technology and the evolution of clinical studies with the introduction of RWD and artificial intelligence.
• To present and assess the impact of the pandemic, the problems created, the solutions proposed and the adaptations made.

Korina Pateli-Bell, President of FairLife L.C.C. stressed that the patient, as the final recipient of a clinical trial, is the most critical parameter in the complex equation between safety, efficacy and cost, regarding the development of a new drug. Thus, the importance of clinical trials lies solely in the extent to which, in addition to their scientific interest, they are also meaningful for the patient, since they enable him / her to have free access to innovative treatments, long before they become available in the market and provide him/ her with continuous and high-quality monitoring by medical staff. To ensure clinical trials will perform their function, key steps need to be taken by the National Health System and the State: the development of a patient-centered operating model, the simplification of the broader procedures through less bureaucracy in approval times and the guarantee to all patients of fair and equal access to diagnostic tests, new innovative therapies, with all necessary information