Biomedical research pays off. A study on clinical trial impact assessment.

Biomedical research development is a global issue in the pandemic we are living. The healthcare system is in a everyday struggle to urgently develop clinical trials to defeat virus. The potential impact of clinical trials on global health is evident. The study shows different points of view on clinical trials. It’s focused on the impact trials have on healthcare and research system and benefits they can generate for researchers and research centers. An overview on clinical trials data in Italy is presented as a general introduction. The growing attention on trial economic impact assessment is indicated as a key issue for national authorities, local health agencies, research centers, pharma companies. A literature review on biomedical research assessment frameworks is presented in the first chapter. Public health benefits, economic revenues, knowledge development, impact on policy making result as biomedical research main assessment variables. New “non-economic” variables are emerging, concerning research capability development and methodological improvement. The second chapter shows an overview of different cost based trial assessment methods. An original integrated assessment framework, that includes economic and non-economic variables, is presented as a work hypothesis. Directly focused on clinical trial activities, the third chapter shows the results of a survey on the research community of the IRCCS Bambino Gesù Children Hospital. The survey aims to analize the impact that participation to trials have had on researchers in terms of research capacity improvement, scientific production, network involvement, carrier development. It’s an attempt to measure the “intangibles” impact that trials can have on a research group. Every chapter suggests different further studies and research hypothesis.