The University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology ITMP opened an Early Clinical Trial Unit (ECTU) for early clinical phase I studies on Thursday, September 15, 2022. The focus is on the first clinical testing of compounds for the treatment of largely intractable (autoimmune) diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), such as multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s disease.
The new Early Clinical Trial Unit (ECTU) is integrated into the Fraunhofer site for “Translational Neuroinflammation and Automated Microscopy” of the Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology ITMP. The Fraunhofer site for “Translational Neuroinflammation and Automated Microscopy TNM” of the Fraunhofer ITMP was founded in December 2020 and is headed by MBExC member Prof. Dr. Stefan Jakobs, Department of Neurology at UMG. The new station, which was built together with the University Medical Center Göttingen, is located in bed block 1 of the University Hospital and includes four modern bed spaces, a monitoring room, a doctor’s room, and rooms for laboratory, documentation, and archiving. In the ECTU, patients or test persons are treated in early clinical phase I studies. Phase I trials involve the use of therapeutic approaches or investigational drugs that have not yet been approved. The aim of phase I trials is to obtain information on tolerability, safety and pharmacokinetics, to bring scientific findings quickly and specifically into diagnostics, therapies and prevention. The ECTU is open to ideas and concepts from UMG’s other two focus areas, cardiovascular sciences and oncology. The opening event for the new unit was attended by Dr. Sabine Johannsen, State Secretary in the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony.
Please find the UMG press release (in German) here.
