July 27, 2023 – Rambam Health Care Campus (Rambam), in Haifa, Israel is recognized as a world leader in performing clinical trials on new drug therapies. Patient volunteers are drawn from all corners of Israel to participate in hundreds of clinical trials performed annually.
During a meeting at Rambam last week, Kobi Tzoref, General Manager at Pharma Israel – an association representing the R&D-based multinational pharmaceutical companies operating in Israel, addressed Rambam's central role in maintaining Israel as an international leader in clinical trials: “Rambam, under the leadership of Professor Miki Halberthal, Director General and CEO, became a leading site for international clinical trials”.
In 2022, Rambam was ranked third worldwide for recruiting patients willing to participate in clinical trials, from the Clinical Site Partnership with MSD, an international leading pharma company. Clinical Site Partnership is a multi-specialty site dedicated to clinical research and trial optimization.
“For Rambam to maintain its lead, it is necessary to ensure that Israeli regulation is comparable to the European one, including research approval timelines, digitization of research approval requests, inter-institutional recognition, and, first and foremost, urgent allocation of resources at the Ministry of Health’s Clinical Trials Unit. I thank Professor Halberthal and the Rambam team for their collaboration,” Tzoref emphasized.
Every year Rambam conducts hundreds of clinical trials on new drug therapies. Patients from all corners of Israel volunteer to participate in these trials when the standard treatments they receive are ineffective. “We recommend that these patients participate in these clinical trials and receive a treatment that is not otherwise available to them,” explains Dr. Ruth Perets, director of Rambam’s Oncological Day Care Unit and the hospital’s director of Clinical Trials in Oncology in advanced stages.
According to Shiri Fadel, lead Clinical Trials Operation Manager at the Clinical Trials Unit at Rambam, the hospital currently conducts 1,600 approved clinical studies, of which approximately 500 examine the drug effect on patients with various conditions, and 150 studies focus on testing medical devices.
“It should be remembered that seven or more years can pass from drug development to completing clinical studies and obtaining FDA approval. Patients cannot wait this long,” adds Dr. Perets. “As part of the clinical studies, we administer drug treatments to our patients many years before they are approved; thus, they are among the first in the world to access the most innovative and ground-breaking treatments. Rambam has positioned itself as a center of excellence in early clinical research, and we are opening up many treatment options. Our treatment is equivalent to, or exceeds, any other medical center worldwide.” She explains that clinical trials also make it possible for patients to receive treatment at no personal cost – approved treatments not yet subsidized by the Israeli medical healthcare basket. “Participating in research can extend a patient’s life-something they did not have with standard treatment,” she concludes.
