"This is an extraordinary resource for anyone interested in discovering just what sort of data is out there on potentially life-saving medicines and vaccines," the Chief Executive Officer of Medicines Australia, Kieran Schneemann, said today.

"There is clear interest from doctors, patients and their carers in finding out what clinical trials have been conducted into particular illnesses, and what is presently underway. The industry has responded and it is important others do the same."

This is the first ever internet search engine constructed specifically to link to available online information about completed and ongoing clinical trials conducted worldwide.

The IFPMA Clinical Trial Portal can be found at www.ifpma.org/clinicaltrials

IFPMA is the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, and the search engine which currently has more than 250,000 links was developed in conjunction with IBM.

In the global research and development pipeline, the pharmaceutical industry is working on more than 700 new medicines and vaccines for diseases such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, heart disease, stroke and osteoporosis.

A number of sources will be tapped by the search engine. They include government sites, pharmaceutical industry association sites, and those run by individual pharmaceutical companies or other parties working on their behalf.

IFPMA proposes that two broad types of information can be searched for. One involves listings or registries of ongoing clinical trials, where basic information such as title, description in lay terms, trial phase, type, status and purpose, condition or disease, eligibility criteria such as age or gender, location of trial and contact informat
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Contact: Paul Chamberlin
61-419-233-989
Research Australia
21-Sep-2005