24 January 2025
News
F-CRIN moves forward! At the start of the new year, the infrastructure is rolling out its strategic plan, focusing on two priorities: amplifying and deepening its action. Vincent Diebolt, Executive Director of F-CRIN, looks ahead to the highlights for the infrastructure in 2025.
Amplifying the F-CRIN network community
F-CRIN launched its fourth campaign to label new research and clinical investigation networks in June 2024. This responds to key challenges: structuring new areas of clinical research, increasing their dynamism, enhancing French excellence and responding to priority public health needs. It should enable new cutting-edge clinical research teams to benefit from F-CRIN support. These teams will be the winners of a campaign based on two pillars: a call for applications open to all medical themes, but also a call addressed to cutting-edge networks in declared priority areas (firstly, women's health, then innovative therapies, and, potentially, disadvantaged populations - this last theme is currently being considered to define the feasibility of F-CRIN support and, if appropriate, the angle of approach).
At the end of 2024, 12 networks out of 17 candidates have been pre-selected by F-CRIN's Steering Committee.
In June 2025, the International Scientific Council will select a maximum of eight networks to join the infrastructure, bringing the total number of labelled networks to around thirty by summer 2025.
This new wave of accredited networks will follow a first step already taken in the second half of 2024: the accreditation of "MUST", the multidisciplinary university network for primary care research in the territories, led by the Collège national des généralistes enseignants (CNGE). Welcome to him!
Deepening: strengthening and developing networks that have already been awarded the label
The second priority for 2025 is to consolidate and expand the networks already part of the infrastructure. To achieve this, F-CRIN is implementing several concrete actions:
- Increase network resources to enable them to develop and stabilize in a constrained environment, via financial recognition of the added value of F-CRIN networks in the complex clinical trial process;
- Support the extension of F-CRIN networks: firstly in Europe, in liaison with ECRIN, to forge transnational collaborations, but also at national level, by promoting networking via the integration of non-university hospital centers;
- Support large-scale, structuring projects carried out by the networks, particularly "platform" trials, by providing operational and financial support ;
- Continue to support networks in their quality approach with, for example, the issuing of "F-CRIN Quality" attestations that guarantee the organizational performance of mature networks;
- Deploy tools and processes to improve recruitment in trials associating F-CRIN and its networks, one of the major objectives of F-CRIN's third mandate.
These ambitious actions naturally depend on the funding that will be allocated to F-CRIN. The end of France's current budgetary impasse should remove this final uncertainty.
As you can see, F-CRIN is moving forward! A year full of challenges and opportunities for the infrastructure, with ambitious projects aimed at strengthening clinical research in France and Europe. Our entire team is ready to meet tomorrow's challenges and wishes you an excellent year 2025, full of success and exciting projects.
Vincent Diebolt
Director of F-CRIN
