Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan

Regional Asian Clinical Trial Association Forum

Taipei Medical University (TMU) hosted the "East Asia Clinical Trials Alliance Forum" (REACTA Forum) on November 10-11, 2018. More than 30 experts from both the industry and government sectors, who are pioneers in new areas and innovative approaches in clinical trials, were invited to speak at the forum. Participants came from countries including the United States, Germany, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and China, alongside elite scholars from Taiwan. The event fostered numerous discussions, sparking potential collaborations in clinical trials.

Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare, Xue Ruiyuan, and Director-General of the Food and Drug Administration, Wu Xiumei, both attended and delivered speeches, offering their expectations and encouragement for the "East Asia Clinical Trials Alliance Forum." Through this forum, TMU not only promoted Taiwan's high-quality clinical trial capabilities but also showcased the international competitiveness of the university. The goal was to highlight the advantages of TMU and its three affiliated hospitals (with a multi-center approach) as the global clinical trials industry accelerates. TMU also aimed to cultivate leadership among Principal Investigators (PIs) who could lead international clinical trials (PI-initiated Trials, IITs). Several TMU investigators shared their IIT projects during the forum, attracting interest from East Asian countries for post-forum collaboration, with the hope of developing international IIT projects together with TMU.

TMU is one of the founding members of the Regional Asian Clinical Trial Association (REACTA) established in 2013, alongside other members such as East Asia University of Korea, Chiba University of Japan, and the Malaysian Ministry of Health. The alliance has three main objectives: 1) to develop clinical trials in Asia and align them with global standards; 2) to support each other in exchanging information and building trial capacity; and 3) to use the power of the alliance to promote multi-country, multi-center investigator-initiated clinical trials.

The preparation for this forum took over a year. TMU's Office of Human Research and the Joint Clinical Research Center began drafting the conference plan in 2017. The center’s Director, Associate Professor Song Xianying, also attended relevant international conferences worldwide to promote the event. Through these promotional efforts, the forum attracted the attention of clinical medicine experts and increased the visibility of the Asia-Pacific Clinical Trials Forum held in Taiwan in 2017.

Moreover, the invited speakers were all internationally recognized authorities or leading experts from Taiwan in the field of clinical medicine, ensuring that the forum content was rich and forward-thinking. The key themes of the forum included precision medicine and advanced research in cell therapy, attracting a large number of professionals from both Taiwan and abroad for active participation and exchange. The hope was that this would help advance clinical medical research in Taiwan. To foster good communication networks, the organizers also arranged several social events to facilitate networking among participants.

Throughout the forum's preparation, the Joint Clinical Research Center worked with a spirit of dedication, persistence, humility, and a willingness to learn. The enthusiastic academic exchanges during the forum far exceeded expectations. Building on this experience, the organizers will continue to strive for even higher standards in future meetings.