On 3 June 2025, more than 160 participants gathered in Basel for this year’s SCTO Symposium co-organised by the Department of Clinical Research, University of Basel and the Swiss Clinical Trial Organisation (SCTO).

Held under the theme Bridging the divide: Integrating clinical trials with medical care, the event brought together experts and stakeholders from across Switzerland to explore one of the most pressing challenges in clinical research today.

A substantial gap remains between the generation of knowledge through randomised controlled trials and its application in everyday clinical practice. The Symposium focused on how we can close this gap through targeted improvements in several key areas:

• Evolving ethical and regulatory frameworks to better support the integration of research into routine care while ensuring patient safety and oversight.
• Adapting study designs to make them more relevant and applicable to real-world settings.
• Developing robust data infrastructures that allow for seamless data sharing between research and healthcare systems.
• Aligning incentives across clinical research and healthcare delivery systems to foster collaboration and accelerate the translation of research into practice.

We extend our sincere thanks to all speakers for their insightful presentations and to all attendees for contributing to lively and thoughtful discussions throughout the day.

We look forward to continuing this important dialogue and working together to better integrate clinical research into healthcare delivery, thus ultimately improving outcomes for patients across Switzerland.

The SCTO Symposium 2026 will take place on 2 June 2026 in Zürich.