New one-stop portal makes it easier to find and take part in Singapore medical trials

SINGAPORE – A new portal has been launched to consolidate information about research studies that test the safety and efficacy of a drug, device or treatment in people, and what they need to know about participating in one, as well as provide key information to guide clinical investigators and trial sponsors.

Clinical Trials Singapore (CTSG) is managed by the Singapore Clinical Research Institute (SCRI), the national coordinating body and academic research office for clinical trials here.

Launched on July 30 by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, the centralised portal is aimed at making clinical trials more accessible to more people.

It allows the public to learn more about a trial and take the information to their doctors to see if they are suitable for the trial, said SCRI executive director Danny Soon.

When drug trials are conducted locally, researchers are able to establish whether they are safe for the patients here, said Adjunct Associate Professor Soon.

Clinical trials also contribute significantly to the development of new therapies and treatments. In particular, they will allow patients who might have exhausted treatment options for their illnesses to find new therapies, he added.

DPM Heng, who chairs the National Research Foundation Board, noted that healthy volunteers can also participate in early-phase drug trials that help researchers here to investigate the tolerability of new therapeutics.

Currently, the portal lists 338 recruiting trials, with both interventional studies – to test treatments for conditions – and observational studies where researchers gather data on participants’ health and behaviours in their natural settings.

The list (

https://clinicaltrials.sg/patient-or-caregiver/trials-listing

) can be searched by the type of disease, making it more user-friendly and helping those with certain conditions to find relevant trials. The searches can also be narrowed down by trial phases or stages of testing.

Each trial listing comes with a short description of what the study is about and the participant criteria. The names of the principal investigators are also included.

Potential participants can write to the e-mail address stated in the listing to register their interest and check if they are eligible. They can also fill up a form to be alerted to new trials that are recruiting in Singapore. The list of trials will be updated each month.

Previously, the information on clinical trials in Singapore was tailored primarily to clinical research professionals and principal investigators, with the public usually finding out about trials through their doctors.

Speaking at the portal’s launch at the SCRI clinical trials symposium held at Raffles City Convention Centre, DPM Heng said Singapore must invest more in trials centred on upstream disease prevention.

The Republic should also leverage new health-tech innovations and tap clinical trials to advance more sustainable healthcare systems, he said. For instance, some trials have shown that lower drug dosages could yield the same clinical benefits.