Pharmalys Ltd is Committed In Strengthening the Clinical Research Ecosystem
For the past twelve years, Pharmalys Ltd has worked closely with health research authorities, ethics committees, commercial and academic sponsors, Product Development Partners, research centres, researchers, students, funders, and non-profits. Our goal has been to raise awareness, identify gaps, build skills, strengthen infrastructure where needed, and establish high standards for data excellence across those who undertake, regulate, conduct, and manage clinical trials.
To further support these efforts, we created CREDO (Clinical Research Excellence and Development Opportunity), a non-profit organisation originally supported by Pharmalys Ltd. CREDO’s mission is to foster a productive research environment to improve health outcomes in Africa. It achieves this by sharing knowledge and experiences in health research through various media, including expert interviews, articles, and webinars aimed at health and clinical research professionals.
Clinical Research Excellence and Development Opportunity Events
The inaugural CREDO event was an hybrid conference held in September 2022, hosted within the Infectious Diseases Department of the main teaching hospital in Dakar. Titled ‘Clinical Trials in Africa: Impact, Know-how and Perspectives’, the conference began with an introduction to clinical trials and subsequently focused on vaccine trials in Africa, exploring the impact of clinical research on health systems, as well as its social, societal, and economic implications on the continent. Panellists included A. Dicko from Mali, G. Mombo-Ngoma from Gabon, M. Seydi from Senegal, S.B. Sirima from Burkina Faso, S. Sow from Mali, and S. Viviani from Italy. Approximately one hundred attendees participated in the event.
Feedback from the audience was overwhelmingly positive, with many describing the event as a high-level conference featuring renowned panellists delivering cutting-edge insights. Encouraged by this response, we have decided to organise a scientific event every two years.
The next CREDO event will be a fully digital webinar scheduled for 28 November, 2024, from 13:00 to 15:00 GMT. This free public webinar, conducted in English, will address the topic ‘Implementation Research: What Is It About and What Is Its Value?’.
Implementation research (IR) holds significant value for a diverse range of stakeholders. Ministerial-level decision makers can utilise IR to support health policy-making, while programme managers can gain insights into context-specific challenges, and health providers can assess performance, implement changes, or introduce innovations. IR leverages contextual knowledge to study processes aimed at improving practice, applying research findings and methodologies to real-world settings, with a focus on effective treatment delivery. It can help identify how to allocate human resources so that geographically remote communities can access care when needed and pinpoint ways to eliminate financial barriers that hinder vulnerable populations from receiving essential services. Additionally, IR emphasises cost reduction and enhancing organisational efficiency and accountability.
Piero Olliaro, Professor of Poverty Related Infectious Diseases and Director of Science at ISARIC (the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium), will discuss key considerations for designing clinical trials.
Christian Burri, PhD, Mpharm, Deputy Head Department of Medicine and Head of Medicines Implementation Research Unit at the Swiss Tropical & Public Health Institute, will outline the objectives of IR projects.
Ghyslain Mombo-Ngoma, MD, PhD, Head of the Clinical Operations Department at the Centre de Recherches Médicales de Lambaréné (CERMEL), will share his experiences at CERMEL in Gabon.
We will be sending the registration details very soon!