The European Commission (EC) has begun a new initiative to improve the way clinical trials are conducted and to better integrate clinical research into the European health system.

The initiative, Accelerating Clinical Trials in the EU, outlines key goals, including facilitating innovative trial approaches, helping to modernize good clinical practice, spurring more multinational trials in the trade bloc and refining ethical oversight.

The initiative also intends to encourage and support better trials for rare diseases, unmet needs and vaccines/therapeutics for pandemics and public health emergencies. The newly launched initiative will be conducted alongside the EU’s Clinical Trials Regulation and its database component, the Clinical Trials Information System, which take effect Jan. 31.