ABM’s priority for the new year is the intensive development of international cooperation. This is an area that has so far been difficult to launch for various reasons, including: legal. Thanks to the modification of the Agency’s structure, we now have the opportunity to promote Poland as an attractive place to conduct clinical trials. We want to increase not only the visibility of our centers, but also patients’ access to clinical trials taking place abroad. At the same time, we encourage Polish centers to cooperate in projects carried out by foreign researchers.
The second key area is translational medicine, i.e. the transition of inventions and scientific discoveries to the stage of their practical application in the treatment of patients. At the end of 2024, the Agency announced the TRANSMED I competition for the development of research and development projects in the area of translational medicine, i.e. solutions e.g. using Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (advanced therapy medicinal productATMP). The aim of this competition is to support key development domains in the biomedical, translational medicine and clinical research sectors. The competition requires us to make some changes to the procedure, including: evaluation of applications. We assume that this project can contribute to the development of innovative products and solutions in the field of health, improving the effectiveness of treatment.
In the new year, we also place emphasis on education, especially activities aimed at developing staff necessary to initiate and conduct clinical trials. In addition, we plan to launch another educational program, which will be announced after the end of the Harvard Medical School Postgraduate Medical Education program, i.e. in three years, but we are starting work on it now.
The biggest challenge in terms of personnel is the implementation of projects financed from KPO funds in 2025. We currently have over 300 projects in progress, including: semi-annual evaluation cycles and monitoring reports. However, KPO projects are assessed quarterly. If more projects from KPO funds are added in the new year, we will have twice as many applications to evaluate than in 2024. This puts a much greater burden on the Agency’s staff. Moreover, the projects will have a shorter time horizon but a higher degree of advancement in terms of scientific level.
-We also plan two “standard” competitions, i.e. competitions for commercial clinical trials and competitions for research experiments. We want to separate this because until now, clinical trials and research experiments have been evaluated together. Usually, bonuses were given to the former. However, many projects were experimental in nature, and scientific units willingly submitted applications due to funding. Meanwhile, a significant part of these projects should be financed by other agencies specializing in supporting strictly scientific projects, e.g. the National Science Center or the Foundation for Polish Science. Nevertheless, we will leave competitions for research experiments, but in a medical sense, e.g. comparison of radiotherapy methods or research procedures. Evaluation mechanisms involving expert panels will be used in the planned recruitment processes. We will expand the pool of foreign reviewers to financially support the best projects whose results will have a positive impact on the medical care system in Poland and around the world.
In addition, ABM will continue two of its own studies started in 2024: regarding endometriosis titled “Comparative study assessing the use of the non-invasive EndoRNA test in the diagnosis of endometriosis compared to laparoscopy – ENDO” and regarding analyzes related to the use of nicotine products entitled “Analysis of the prevalence and factors associated with the use of selected addictive substances in the Polish population – NIKO”. Further own research is planned, including: a research and educational project assessing the state of knowledge and attitudes of society towards clinical trials entitled “Awareness, knowledge and attitude towards clinical trials in Poland.” More information can be found in the ABM activity plan published on the Agency’s website.
As you can see, 2025 will be full of challenges, the Agency has a lot of work ahead of it. But we have a good team, thanks to which I believe that we will be able to achieve all our goals.
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