BCG Innovation Hub: Thailand Clinical Research Enterprise (TCRE)
Principal Investigator: Dr. Pao Sriprasertsuk, Clinixir Company Limited
The wellness and medicine sector is one of the strategic areas promoted under Thailand’s Bio-Circular-Green Economy (BCG) model. Thailand’s strengths in cost-effectiveness, well-recognized medical schools, and access to state-of-the-art medical equipment and facilities make the country emerge as a leader for clinical trials. To bolster this industry, PMU-C in collaboration with Clinixir Company Limited embarks on an establishment of Thailand Clinical Research Enterprise (TCRE) to function as a private company to drive the growth of clinical research business and position the country as the clinical research hub. TCRE will serve as a one-stop Clinical Research Organization (CRO) that offers a full range of services including clinical trial management, consulting and regulatory affairs services. Collaborations with faculties of medicine in six leading universities, namely Chiang Mai University, Chulalongkorn University, Khon Kaen University, Mahidol University, Prince of Songkla University and Thammasat University will be established to serve as Clinical Research Centers (CRCs) performing studies for clients. TCRE is expected to optimize the efficiency of the clinical operation process in Thailand, enhance Thailand’s healthcare competitiveness, and attract global pharma companies to conduct clinical research in Thailand. This project will not only promote clinical trial industry, but also underpin domestic research and development in drugs, advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), herbal products, functional foods and cosmeceuticals.
FFC Thailand – Food with Function Claims Thailand
Principal Investigator: Assist. Prof. Dr. Anadi Nitithamyong, Food Science and Technology Association of Thailand
Thailand is blessed with robust agricultural activities and rich biodiversity, enabling it to become a major producer and exporter of agricultural and food products in the global market. The country, however, is losing its competitive advantage as its exports are low-priced farm commodities and minimally processed food products. It is, therefore, imperative that Thailand upgrades its products to those with higher value such as functional food. This project aims to support functional food industry by establishing FFC Thailand – Food with Functional Claims Thailand, an online system for facilitating the registration of FFC products containing functional ingredients. The FFC products registration is open to both farm products and processed food products and serves as a tool to regulate the production process of FFC products from upstream and mid-stream, all the way to downstream to ensure that every step meet high standards and that the final products are safe and offer health benefits to consumers. FFC Thailand will cover the registration process from application submission to document verification, quality control, labelling, as well as data management and security. The online system will expedite the FFC registration process with the Thai FDA, thus enabling manufacturers to introduce FFC products to the market at a faster pace, while boosting consumers’ confidence in the safety and health benefits of the products. This system is modelled after the successful FFC Japan and the Japanese organization in charge of FFC Japan will provide guidance to the research team.
