At this year’s SCTO Forum, which took place in Bern at the SNSF on 31 January 2024, we delved into the complex regulatory environment of clinical research and addressed the revision of the ordinances related to the Human Research Act (HRA). Together with our 78 participants, we explored the hot topics sparked by this revision that ignited insightful discussions and fostered collaboration.

We started off our journey with a presentation providing an overview of the topic and shedding light on the most important objectives of the revision of the Human Research Act’s ordinances. This initial presentation by Brigitte Meier of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), set the stage for in-depth discussions during our focus sessions.

In our three focus sessions, we dove deeper into the most pressing issues that have been generating debates within the clinical research community:

• General consent and the reuse of data
• Anonymisation of data
• Transparency and lay summaries of study results

Following each short focus session, we engaged in a moderated discussion with invited key stakeholders and, of course, our audience.

The presentations of the SCTO Forum 2024 can be downloaded below.

Each year, the SCTO invites experts and guests from all over Switzerland and from abroad to its SCTO Forum. The aim of the forum is to foster discussions on emerging topics that have the potential to change the way we do clinical research in practice. At a minimum, these discussions should raise awareness of upcoming changes; ideally, they also result in recommendations on how to best address these changes.