The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched the Global Clinical Trials Forum (GCTF), a global, multi-stakeholder network to strengthen clinical trial environments and infrastructure at national, regional, and global levels, and Cochrane has been named as a member of this initiative.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed critical gaps in the ability to launch trials rapidly. In May 2022, the 75th World Health Assembly adopted a resolution to improve the quality and coordination of clinical trials globally, ensuring high-quality evidence for health interventions.
Since then, WHO has brought together global stakeholders—including national health research governance agencies, clinical trial regulators and ethics bodies, funders, civil society organizations, academic institutions, and industry leaders—in 2023 and 2025 to shape a more efficient and impactful clinical trial ecosystem. This forum of stakeholders is now being launched as a formal WHO-managed network.
In previous meetings, the forum agreed on a unified vision of being always on and always busy, ensuring that clinical trial capacity is sustained during and between health crises and that clinical research is integrated into all health systems. Subsequently, the forum produced guidance on clinical trial best practice and a global action plan to strengthen the ecosystem.
The network will now serve as a global coordination mechanism, promoting collaboration and sharing best practices. By connecting diverse stakeholders—including Member States, regulators, ethics authorities, funders, researchers, civil society, and patient/community engagement organizations—the GCTF provides a collaborative platform for members to disseminate WHO guidance and best practices, engage and advocate with stakeholders to promote adoption of standards, and share knowledge to strengthen capacity and advance inclusive, ethical, and impactful clinical trials.
Karla Soares-Weiser, Chief Executive Officer at Cochrane, has highlighted that this WHO-led network marks a pivotal moment for global health research, emphasizing that strengthening clinical trial systems and fostering collaboration across sectors can ensure high-quality evidence is available when it is needed most.
The Global Clinical Trials Forum represents a significant step toward ensuring that all countries have the capacity to generate reliable evidence to guide health policy and practice.
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