Vall d'Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus and Pharmaceutical Product Development LLC (PPD), one of the world's leading Contract Research Organization (CRO), have renewed their preferred collaboration agreement (PPD Select Program), according to which both institutions undertake to work together in the carrying out of clinical trials in a framework of excellence for the benefit of the patient and all the teams involved. As a result, for PPD, the Vall d'Hebron Campus becomes a center of excellence within the program, offering, in a priority or preferential way, the clinical trials managed by the American company.PPD Select is a hallmark of all those centers with high performance and committed to working on a PPD collaboration strategy that prioritizes innovation and process optimization. Its ultimate goal is to ensure that patients can access a greater number of treatment options, either through their participation in clinical trials or by accelerating the development and approval of new therapies.During the year 2017, Vall d'Hebron participated in 1,015 clinical trials. Of these, 93 (around 9%) were managed by PPD, which makes it one of the main promoters of commercial clinical research on the Campus. Among the trials conducted by the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) and the Vall d'Hebron Oncology Institute (VHIO), 57 belonged to the Oncology area for adults and the remaining 36, in areas such as Neurology, Infectious Diseases and Pneumology, among others. It is worth mentioning that in 2017 Vall d'Hebron Campus recruited 9% of the patients included in the clinical trials managed by PPD throughout the country. A win-win partnershipVall d'Hebron is consolidated as well as a leading center in clinical trials, both for the volume and the complexity of its design. It should be noted that the main beneficiaries are patients, who will have more opportunities to access innovative therapies and treatments so far unavailable, as well as professionals who acquire knowledge and professional projection. In addition, the Vall d'Hebron Campus increases its visibility, its positioning and, most importantly, its ability to attract talent.For Dr. Vicenç Martínez Ibáñez, the manager of Vall d'Hebron Hospital, the agreement is "to reinforce Campus leadership in the field of clinical trials, as well as our alliance with a world giant like PPD."PPD provides comprehensive services in the development of medications and management throughout the life of the clinical trial. Its clients and collaborators include pharmaceutical companies, biotech companies, medical devices, academic centers and government organizations. With offices in 47 countries and approximately 20,000 employees around the world, PPD brings innovative technologies along with extensive experience in therapeutic areas and a firm commitment to quality, in order to help its clients and collaborators to reduce costs and Time in the development of new drugs, thus optimizing the launch of leading therapies that help improve the health of patients.For Geraldine Thomas, Strategic Site Collaborations Director & PPD Select Europe / Asia Director, "it is a great honor to have Vall d'Hebron as a collaborator in our PPD Select program. This hospital and its teams are leaders in Spain and to Europe and its researchers are well known all over the world. We are very excited about this collaboration and are excited about the future cooperation that we will develop in parallel to clinical trials.PPD is developing several therapeutic networks to attract more studies in Spain, where Vall d'Hebron is already participating and will participate. These are networks dedicated to Oncology, Ophthalmology, Cardiology, Neurology, Vaccines and Infectious Diseases.With the renewal of this collaboration agreement, PPD may continue to offer to pharmaceutical companies the benefits of this strategic relationship in a center of reference and international prestige, with recognized professionals and with a structure already consolidated for the development of the biomedical research. Likewise, more flexible management and reduction of start-up times are made possible with the clear objective of accelerating patient access to new treatments."We would like to express our most sincere gratitude and admiration for the Vall d'Hebron Campus, for their work and effort in the development of biomedical research, which undoubtedly places Vall d'Hebron as a reference hospital in. With the renewal of this agreement, the benefit of our mutual and close collaboration is evident, consolidating the commitment acquired in recent years. For us it is a true privilege to collaborate in a way close to Campus professionals, "says Ana Zamora, Associate Director of Site Intelligence and Activation in Spain.Dr. Josep Tabernero, director of the VHIO, emphasizes that "this strategic collaboration between PPD and the Vall d'Hebron Campus represents an advance in the lines of research of Precision Medicine in different areas of Medicine and especially in early development of new drugs ".For his part, Dr. Joan Comella, director of the VHIR, states that "bringing the medicine of the future (the use of gene therapy or stem cells, amongst others) goes through alliances among the best."The will of the Vall d'Hebron Campus goes beyond the collaboration in the PPD Select program and raises the possibility of exploring other areas of joint work with PPD, always for the benefit of patients.