05-Apr-2011
On the 24 March 2011, the TECOS team arrived in Prague to host the initiation meeting for the new sites in Europe, Israel and South Africa.
The event covered academic issues as well as the operational management of TECOS. The morning began with an introduction to the rationale behind TECOS by Joint-Chair Professor Rury Holman, and continued with scientific insight from Professor Eberhard Standl (Munich) and Professor Markolf Hanefeld (Dresden). Neli Jakuboniene (Kaunas, Lithuania) also provided a wealth of recruiting tips.
The afternoon session saw the team present some of the practical aspects of the trial: from talks on safety and clinical event reporting, through study medication and the use of IVRS, to an overview of the InForm database. Question and answer sessions throughout the day allowed participants to have their queries dealt with as soon as they arose.
Representatives from 116 sites attended, including delegates from the seven newly added European countries (shown in blue on the map). Estonia and Norway were congratulated in particular for successfully recruiting their first patients.