On course for funding: Evaluation of the first IICT call
Investigator Initiated Clinical Trials are generating a great deal of interest. An evaluation of the first call provides guidance for future proposals.
With the special programme Investigator Initiated Clinical Trials (IICT), the SNSF is promoting clinical studies in under-researched areas that do not attract industry interest. Researchers can now submit their project proposals for the second IICT call, provided they pre-announced their participation in a letter of intent. The SNSF has published the evaluation results of the 2015 call, listing the successful projects as well as the main reasons why the other proposals were rejected.
Nine clinical trials from last year's call have been awarded grants worth a total of 12.6 million Swiss francs. With 75 project proposals submitted to the SNSF, the IICT programme has generated a great deal of interest. They address a wide range of fields, but cardiology, paediatrics, oncology and neurology make up the lion's share. 55 proposals have been fully assessed as they fulfilled the formal requirements and matched the evaluation criteria. Most of the other projects either did not qualify as interventional studies on patients or did not include randomisation in the design.
All nine studies that received an outstanding and excellent rating were awarded SNSF grants. Key success factors of funded proposals included high clinical relevance, convincing hypotheses, the study design, appropriate methodology and primary endpoints as well as the project leaders' longstanding experience in conducting randomised, controlled trials.