February 2010 €7.5million funding for new Clinical Research Facility

NUI Galway's Professor Larry Egan, Interim Director of the Health Research Board (HRB) Clinical Research Facility, Galway today (February 12th 2010) welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Health & Children Mary Harney TD that €7.5m in capital funding is being provided for the construction of a new Clinical Research Facility on the grounds of University Hospital Galway. The HRB Clinical Research Facility Galway is a joint venture between Galway University Hospitals and NUI Galway. The facility is supported by funding from the Health Research Board and has been operating since March of 2008. The purpose of the Clinical Research Facility (CRF) is to improve human health through the generation of new medical knowledge from patient based research. The guiding philosophy of the CRF is to stimulate, engage and support health care professionals from diverse areas of expertise to undertake high quality clinical research. Commenting Professor Egan said, "The benefits of this facility include the ability to provide access to cutting-edge clinical trials and access to novel therapies for patients in the West of Ireland. Clinical care provided in a research-intensive environment has been proven internationally to result in the best patient outcomes. With the development of the Clinical Research Facility in Galway, our ability to provide this level of service to our patients will be significantly enhanced. As a result, patient care will improve, and the ability of our hospital to attract and retain the very best medical and allied health staff would be improved. Moreover, the capabilities for investigation at this facility will provide an important and highly valuable opportunity for Irish companies operating in the biomedical research area such as pharmaceuticals and biomedical device companies to add value to their products through high quality clinical research". Professor Timothy O Brien, Consultant Endocrinologist at GUH, Professor of Medicine at NUI Galway and Director of the SFI-funded CSET Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) thanked the HRB for support for this initiative. "The Galway CRF will form part of an Irish Network of Clinical Research Facilities which will allow Irish patients access to state of the art clinical research. The Galway facility will also serve as the translational arm of REMEDI and will allow findings from basic research in stem cells, gene therapy, biomaterials and immunology to be brought to the clinic. The facility will have space specially designed for clinical research in regenerative medicine. It will also have important advantages for the progression of research and development in the Medical Device Industry which is so important to the economy of the West of Ireland". Mr. Pat Commins Acting General Manager Galway University Hospitals added, "The development of this Clinical Research Facility on the grounds of the Hospital is a very significant milestone which will allow staff to contribute to shaping advances in health care science, and to bring the benefits of those advances to patients at the earliest opportunity. The establishment of the CRF will further enhance our academic links with NUI Galway in line with our hospital strategy". The CRF will be built along with translational research laboratories funded by NUI Galway in a new, approximately 5000m² building on the campus of University Hospital Galway. This joint clinical and translational research facility will comprise state of the art facilities for patient-based research and for the processing and analysis of bio-specimens such as blood samples from those patients. Planning permission has been received and it is expected construction of the facility will begin shortly. Ends