At the end of last year, the FUNKE Media Group launched the STUDIEN WIRKEN initiative with a cross-media awareness campaign aimed at raising public awareness of clinical trials. The aim is to impart knowledge about medical studies, build trust and thus strengthen Germany as a centre for clinical trials in the long term. The NUM supports the initiative as a scientific partner.
On 2 March, the initiative started its substantive work and adopted a mission statement at the first meeting of the Advisory Board with 40 clinical trial experts:
"Under the umbrella of the FUNKE Media Group, we bring together research, care, patients, politics and the research-based industry. We are both an educational campaign and a reform platform: we strengthen knowledge and trust on a broad social basis and work in parallel to improve the conditions for clinical trials in Germany."
The meeting at the FUNKE headquarters in Berlin was also attended by Prof Dr Janne J. Vehreschild, who, as spokesperson for the NUM study network, contributes the NUM perspective to the STUDIEN WIRKEN Advisory Board.
The initiative regularly shares current developments and findings: to the website
"Clinical trials are an important part of epidemic prevention": Interview with Prof Dr Janne Vehreschild
As part of the initiative, Prof Vehreschild has also given an interview in which he explains the importance of clinical trials in the prevention and acute control of epidemics. Two things in particular are crucial here: trust between doctors and patients and cooperation between research and industry.