Over 20 scientists and researchers are currently discussing the procedures of a clinical trial which is a necessary process needed to effectively test and validate a drug, vaccine or any medical device.

This is within the framework of an international training workshop on ‘The CIRCB Clinical Trial Core Facility”, which began yesterday May 11, 2015 at the Chantal Biya International Reference Centre for Research on the Prevention and Management of HIV/AIDS dubbed (CIRCB) in the French language.

While opening the workshop, which will end on May 16, the Director of CIRCB, Professor Alexis Ndjolo said the institution wants to sharpen the skills of its staff on writing clinical trial protocol. It also wants to empower them in the implementation of protocol, manage patients and data at the centre in collaboration with national and international partners.

The Deputy Director of CIRCB, Dr. Godwin Nchinda explained that clinical trial is trying to test if a medical device, drug or vaccine, can do what producers say it can do. During the first phase of the clinical trial, scientists test if the drug or device is safe and can be used in human beings.

In the second phase, scientists test the effectiveness of the drug in preventing or treating a disease. In the third phase of clinical trial, the drug is tested on a large population and in the final phase, the drug is licenced and marketed.

The workshop is of utmost importance to CIRCB especially as the centre is trying to develop a vaccine against HIV infection and also because the centre is working with companies that are developing drugs.

While noting that Clinical Trial Core Facility is an essential element in biomedical research, Dr Nchinda says it is vital for CIRCB to update and upgrade its biomedical equipment as well as train its scientific staff through capacity building sessions.

With such a capacity building session, the administration of CIRCB says if an HIV vaccine is one day developed at CIRCB, the centre will not need to seek experts elsewhere to try the vaccine because staff at the centre will be well equipped to do so and produce results that will be similar if carried out elsewhere in the world.

An International Expert in Clinical Trials, Dr Gabriel Asongwe says the current workshop is also out to help advise people on medications they take, why drugs should be taken properly and the proper channels to acquire drugs.