There are about 9403 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Switzerland. The country of the clinical trial is determined by the location of where the clinical research is being studied. Most studies are often held in multiple locations & countries.
A phase Ib/II, open-label, multicenter, randomized study designed to assess the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and preliminary anti-tumor activity of immunotherapy-based treatment combinations in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) that became refractory to first- and second-line standard therapies. Eligible patients will be assigned to one of several treatment arms.
Phonak Hearing Systems pass through different development and study stages. At an early stage, feasibility studies are conducted to investigate new algorithms, features and functions in an isolated manner. If the benefit is proven, their performance is then investigated regarding interdependency between all available algorithms, features and functions running in parallel in a hearing aid (pivotal/pre-validation studies) and, as a result, they get optimized. Afterwards, and prior to product launch, the Phonak Hearing Systems undergo a final quality control in terms of clinical trials. This is a pre-validation study, investigating optimized algorithms, features, functions and wearing comfort. This will be a clinical evaluation which will be conducted mono centric at Sonova AG Headquarters based in Stäfa (Switzerland).
A methodical evaluation of novel sound changing principles in CE-labelled Sonova brand hearing instruments (e.g. Phonak hearing instruments) is intended to be conducted on hearing impaired participants. These sound changing principles are enabled by respective hearing instrument technologies and hearing instrument algorithms. The aim of the study is to investigate and asses strength and weaknesses of these novel sound changing principles in terms of hearing performance to determine their application in hearing instruments (Phase of development). Both, objective laboratory measurements as well as subjective evaluations in real life environment will be carried out. This will be a controlled, single blinded and randomised active comparator clinical evaluation which will be conducted mono centric at Sonova AG Headquarter based in Stäfa
Patients undergoing elective abdominal surgery will be included prospectively. Informed consent will be obtained. Preoperatively baseline health data is collected and a skin swab and rectal swab for baseline skin and gut microbiota is taken. During the surgery additional clinical data and additional samples will be obtained. Additional samples include: rectal swab, biopsies of the resected specimen (lymph node, peritoneum, intestinal content, mucosa), venous blood sample (7.5ml) at the end of the operation, liver biopsy and skin biopsy. Postoperative health data is recorded. If a surgical site infection occurs a swab is taken too. With 16 sRNA (small ribonucleic acid) based sequencing the investigators will quantify the abundance of the different bacterial species in all samples. Primary outcome will be to assess a difference of 16sRNA signal in the liver and lymph node biopsies between patients with and patients without surgical site infection. Secondary outcomes include variables predicting the occurence of surgical site infections and a model describing the way bacteria may take to cause wound infection.
This 2-part study will evaluate the safety and efficacy of pembrolizumab (MK-3475) compared to placebo in participants with surgically resected high-risk Stage II melanoma. Participants in Part 1 will receive either pembrolizumab or placebo in a double-blind design every 3 weeks (Q3W) for up to 17 cycles/~1 year (each cycle = 21 days). Participants who complete the initial treatment of 17 cycles of pembrolizumab in Part 1 and experience disease recurrence may be eligible for re-challenge with pembrolizumab at the same dose and schedule of 200 mg Q3W (21-day cycles) for up to 35 cycles (up to ~2 years) in Part 2 in an open label design. Participants who complete the initial treatment of placebo and experience disease recurrence may be eligible to switch over to pembrolizumab 200 mg Q3W (21-day cycles) for up to 35 cycles (up to ~2 years) in Part 2 in an open label design. The primary hypothesis of this study is that pembrolizumab increases recurrence-free survival (RFS) compared to placebo. Per protocol, response/ progression or adverse events (AEs) during re-challenge/switch-over in Part 2 will not be counted towards the RFS outcome measure or safety outcome measures respectively.
A phase 4 multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled Study evaluating the Effect of Apremilast on Pruritus and Quality of Life of Patients with moderate-to-severe Scalp Psoriasis
Given the lack of knowledge on lipodystrophies, the medical and social responsibility for the persons affected by it calls for the monitoring of the progression over long periods of time. Sensible clinical and basic research into rare diseases such as lipodystrophy is only possible in multi-location networks with sufficient case numbers. Also, reliable information on the incidence of certain manifestation patterns, health status, etc. is of utmost importance for health care and health policy in this rare disease. Therefore, the European Consortium of Lipodystrophies (ECLip), an association of European experts on lipodystrophy, has launched a registry (OSSE) for lipodystrophies which is committed to help to improve the research conditions by consolidating this kind of information in a registry.
Imaging of chest disorders is mainly achieved by using computed tomography. This is especially the case for detection, morphologic assessment and followup of pulmonary nodules. A positron emission tomography (PET) /CT may be additionally required for lung nodule management in some conditions including a size greater than 8 mm with morphologic or growing characteristics suspicious of malignancy. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) represents however an interesting alternative diagnostic radiation-free method, in particular owing to the recent development of sequences dedicated to lung parenchyma analysis. A major limitation remains the control of respiratory artefacts. High Frequency non-invasive ventilation, HF-NIV, has the potential to allow chest stabilization and is currently used in the department of radio-oncology at the Lausanne University Hospital. It has been recently applied to perform MRI and PET examinations at end inspiration during an "apnea " generated by the system. Continuous periods of respiratory stabilization of several minutes at end-inspiration are thus obtained, allowing prolonged MR and PET acquisitions with improvement of image quality as observed in our preliminary studies (Beigelman-Aubry et al., Prior et al.). Interestingly, the lung volume explored by using this ventilation technique is similar to that of CT studies, conversely to respiratory gated MR sequences which are currently performed at end-expiration, this potentially generating underevaluation of lung disorders especially at lung bases. The present project aims to determine the impact of HF-NIV in the management of patients with pulmonary nodule(s). After a first step of optimization of acquisition parameters of HF-NIV-MR in healthy volunteers, the performances of MRI and PET/CT (when required) under this ventilation technique will be compared to the current method(s) of reference in cases of pulmonary nodule(s) (CT scan and PET when required) and histological data when available. All MRI and PET/CT (when required) acquisitions will be performed without the ventilation technique, as used in current practice, and with it. The project was completed with an amendment to investigate MRI under continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). The MR-CPAP combination will be evaluated with optimized parameters in healthy volunteers and compared to free-breathing acquisitions without any device.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third leading cause of cancer mortality in Switzerland, and kills 1600 people annually. Most deaths could be prevented by screening, but the 2012 Swiss national health survey found that only 40% of 50-75-year-olds had been tested within recommended intervals (26% with colonoscopy in the last 10 year, 7% with fecal occult blood test [FOBT] in the last 2 years, and 7% with both). If screening starts at age 50, in the average risk population absolute risk of dying from CRC at age 80 can be cut from 2% to 1%, reducing relative risk by 50%. Since 2013, Switzerland has reimbursed screening by colonoscopy every 10 years or FOBT every 2 years for adults 50-69 years old. Conforming to current recommendations, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) officially recognizes both screening modalities. When patients are offered a choice of screening test (colonoscopy vs. FOBT), they are as likely to opt for one as the other. Patient preferences are unlikely to vary much between PCP practices, so distribution of colonoscopy and FOBT within each practice should also be roughly equal. Family physicians are recognized as the most trusted professional to discuss CRC screening in Switzerland. However, many primary care physicians (PCPs) prefer prescribing colonoscopy over FOBT, but physician preference for method seems to vary widely between regions. If physician preferences and local medical culture currently influence choice of method more strongly than patient preferences, encouraging PCPs to diagnose patient preferences for screening method may reduce the number of PCPs who prescribe only one method. An earlier study in Switzerland showed that training PCPs and giving them educational support and decision aids raised the number who intend to prescribe colonoscopy and FOBT in equal proportions. A randomized controlled trial in the US showed that when patients were offered both FOBT and colonoscopy rather than only colonoscopy alone, more patients were screened for CRC. Offering choice of method may thus increase overall screening rates. The Swiss Sentinel Surveillance Network (Sentinella) is a cooperative surveillance project including the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), PCPs representatives and the five Swiss institutes of family medicine. A sample of 150 to 250 general practitioners, internists and pediatricians in private practices from all regions of Switzerland report weekly morbidity data to the network using irreversibly anonymized patient data collected during consultations. In 2017, 91 out of 129 eligible PCPs of the Sentinella network participated in a cross-sectional data collection on CRC screening. The Sentinella network appears ideally suited to perform an intervention in order to modify screening practices and measure outcomes using the same collection form as in 2017. This study will test the benefits of a prepackaged training program in participatory medicine sent by post to PCPs in Switzerland. The package is designed to improve their diagnoses of patient preferences for screening and screening method (colonoscopy or FOBT). The study begins with the hypothesis that giving PCPs evidence summaries on CRC screening, decision aids for patients, and performance feedback on the 2017 data collection will increase the number of PCPs whose patients include at least one screened with FOBT, and who will prescribe at least one FOBT/FIT (Fecal Immunochemical Test) instead of prescribing only colonoscopy. This might reduce variation in care between PCP practices by increasing variation in methods of screening prescribed within each PCP practices. Analyses from the 2017 data collection suggest that fewer patients refused CRC testing in practices that offered both methods than in practices that offered only colonoscopy. This intervention might increase screening rates overall, while respecting patient's autonomy to refuse the test and to be prescribed the test they prefer. The study will compare outcomes among PCPs allocated to the intervention group to those in the control group, and will be measured by collecting anonymous structured patient data on 40 consecutive patients by PCPs and questionnaires filled by PCPs. The study is designed to fit within the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework for structuring data collection. RE-AIM ensures that a study's outcomes for future implementation and dissemination works are collected. The RE-AIM criteria will be used to identify the translatability and public health impact of this intervention, and for making clear to future stakeholders the internal and external validity of study results.
Evaluation of the impact of the introduction of multiplex PCR panels on the clinical management of patients with gastroenteritis at the University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland.