The HRB Ireland Perinatal Clinical Trials Network (HRB IP-CTN) is a new, exciting and unique partnership between the two most successful perinatal research entities currently operational in Ireland, INFANT and Perinatal Ireland. This CTN represents a critical mass of obstetricians, neonatologists, midwives and allied professionals from seven of the largest maternity hospitals on the island of Ireland, which deliver over 55,000 babies per annum (almost three quarters of the total births on this island). Together, we have a strong track record in collaborative research and in the conduct of large-scale, international, multicentre, randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of diagnostics and interventions in pregnancy and neonates (e.g. PELICAN, IMPROvED, NEMO, HIP, ANSeR and SafeBoosC). In addition, we are acknowledged world leaders in longitudinal cohort studies such as ESPRiT, PORTO, SCOPE, and BiHiVE and we have established and curate Ireland’s first birth cohort, BASELINE. Perinatal disease accounts for nearly 10% of the global burden of disease. However, R&D investment in perinatal health remains small and nonstrategic; the number of registered pipeline drugs for perinatal conditions is only 1-5% of those for other major disease areas. One barrier to the development of better therapies and diagnostics for
mothers and babies is the intrinsic complexity of conducting trials in these uniquely vulnerable populations and conducting long-term follow up. Our proposed CTN, built on a robust platform of existing collaborations and more than a decade of experience in the conduct of research in the perinatal population, will reverse this pattern. HRB IP-CTN has a balanced and extensive portfolio of both ‘home-grown’ and international clinical trials of novel interventions and diagnostics in pregnancy and neonates. The HRB IP-CTN will facilitate greater national collaboration in the arena of perinatal trials and will ensure that Ireland maintains our place at the international forefront of this area of clinical research.
