High-Level International Research

An Experienced and Efficient
Organization

Owned by the HUS Joint Authority, Clinical Research Institute Helsinki University Central Hospital Ltd. (HYKS-instituutti) is an efficient and agile organization that produces and develops management services for medical and health sciences research. In addition to working with HUS, the Institute partners with the University of Helsinki, the City of Helsinki and operators in the Southern Finland collaborative area.

Clinical Research Institute HUCH has over 30 years of experience in providing management services for clinical trials, including contract drafting, budgeting, financial and personnel administration, and monitoring and reporting during the trials.

HUS IN A NUTSHELL

ONE OF THE LARGEST HOSPITALS IN EUROPE
• 27 000 employees, of whom 3400 are physicians
• 2,9 million patient visits

ACCESS TO THE LARGEST HEALTH DATABANK IN EUROPE
• data lake
• biobank data

MORE THAN 2,000 RESEARCH PROJECTS IN PROGRESS
• trials from phase I (first in human) to phase IV
• trials in all therapeutic areas

3000 scientific publications and 120 doctoral dissertations produced every year

High-Quality Research

The purpose of Clinical Research Institute HUCH is to promote high-quality international research throughout the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District area.

In addition to the expertise provided by the specialists and skilled nursing staff of HUS, Clinical Research Institute HUCH can also draw on the knowhow of researchers at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Helsinki. HUS and the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Helsinki constitute the largest clinical research entity in Finland, the Meilahti campus. The Institute works closely with the internationally prominent Meilahti campus.

Research produces innovations and increases expertise, both of which advance patient care. The people involved in high-level research projects also have in-depth practical knowledge of the diseases they study. Moreover, research brings financial benefits to the trial participants and to society at large, as the costs of research and experimental drugs are covered by pharmaceutical companies.

Business Operations

The majority of the company’s revenue comes from commission agreements signed with international pharmaceutical companies. In 2022, the company’s turnover and other earnings amounted to about EUR 8.1 million. In addition to private companies in the pharmaceutical and health care technology sectors, our major customer groups include high-level research units of HUS.

The Institute receives 100–120 new assignments annually, and many of the studies last for several years. At the moment, the Institute has over 400 research projects in progress.

Research Services

The research service team of Clinical Research Institute HUCH manages externally funded medical research projects conducted at HUS, according to the Institute’s standard operating procedures. The team ensures that each research group can carry out their research safely and with adequate resources.

Our core objective is to provide efficient, reliable, equal, and transparent services to our stakeholders.

Good Clinical Practice

All research projects overseen by Clinical Research Institute HUCH follow the principles of Good Clinical Practice (GCP), an international ethical and scientific quality standard for clinical trials involving human subjects. The principles of Good Clinical Practice are intended to provide assurance that the rights, safety and well-being of clinical trial subjects are protected in accordance with the principles based on the Declaration of Helsinki (1964) of the World Medical Association (WMA) and that the research yields reliable scientific data.

Participation in a clinical trial is always voluntary and based on informed consent obtained after the candidate has been given detailed information about the trial. For most subjects, participation in clinical trial is a positive experience, as the subjects are taken care of by trained professionals who have access to the latest drugs.

Research Agreement Services

Clinical Research Institute HUCH oversees all agreements required during a research project. Research agreements govern the parties’ rights and obligations and ensure the well-being and safety of subjects. In a best-case scenario, research leads to new inventions that can be patented or trademarked so that they can be developed into commercial products.

Research Service Team: HYKSCoordinators@hus.fi
in matters concerning messages from clients and researchers

Monitoring Services

Clinical Research Institute HUCH offers monitoring services, i.e. regularly scheduled quality monitoring, for researcher-initiated clinical studies. The monitoring is performed in accordance with currently valid rules and regulations, Good Clinical Practice (GCP), and the standard operating procedures of the Institute.

The aim of monitoring is to ensure:

the subjects’ rights, safety and well-being
the reliability and high quality of research findings
that research is conducted in compliance with the research plan, good clinical practice and official regulations.

Quality Assurance and Monitoring

Monitoring is an important part of quality assurance in research. When done well, it supports researchers in performing high-quality clinical research. It is the responsibility of the principal investigator to organize monitoring in researcher-driven studies. It is advisable to contact the research monitor well in advance at the study planning stage. The extent and type of monitoring are defined in the study-specific research plan by taking into account the researcher’s needs.

During the study, monitoring visits are made as agreed in the monitoring plan. The number of visits depends on factors such as the number of study subjects, recruitment rate, risks involved in the study and the volume of data to be collected. The first proper monitoring visit is undertaken soon after the first subject has entered the study. This ensures a smooth start to the study.

Financial Administration Services

The financial administration team is in charge of the processing of sales and purchase invoices, payment of wages and remunerations, and bookkeeping at Clinical Research Institute HUCH. The financial administration team ensures that the bookkeeping is accurate and generates accounts and reporting for the owner, for the authorities and for other interest groups.

The Institute is the employer of researchers and HUS-external research assistants in the research projects which it manages. Research team members employed by HUS are automatically granted permissions for a secondary occupation when a research permit is granted.

Clinical Research Institute HUCH provides employees with compensation in the form of wages or remuneration for work performed, in accordance with the budget. Researchers agree on remunerations with the research service coordinator of the Institute and with members of the research team.

The financial administration team provides the researcher with an electronic report showing the project balance and an itemization of the project revenues and expenses.

Research Grant Administration Services

At Clinical Research Institute HUCH, grants awarded by foundations are administered insofar as the researcher in question is conducting research on HUS patients and/or using HUS facilities or resources. The Institute does not process funding granted by the NIH, the EU, Business Finland (TEKES) or any other public research funding provider, nor does the Institute manage research projects whose funding was granted by a public body such as the Academy of Finland, any ministry or the University of Helsinki.

Grants are awarded to researchers personally, meaning that how a grant should be used is up to the researcher, within the limits imposed by the awarding institution. In grant-funded research projects, Clinical Research Institute HUCH prepares the employment contracts of the research group to be hired, manages bookkeeping and submits statutory notifications to the authorities.

When a researcher is using a grant awarded to them to hire research project members, the researcher is the employer of their team members. In addition, Clinical Research Institute HUCH handles the payments of purchase invoices and other expenses accrued in the researcher’s project.

The financial administration team produces an electronic report on project revenue and expenses for the researcher.

A grant coordinator is available to address issues regarding grants,
such as:

payment of grant to the research team members
employment matters
payment of wages and remunerations
purchase invoices accrued in the research project
balance statements and reports

Any questions related to grants should be sent to:
ostolaskut.hyksinstituutti@hus.fi

Financial administration team contact details

in matters concerning sales invoicing:
hyksinstituutti@hus.fi

in matters concerning pay and remunerations:
palkat.hyksinstituutti@hus.fi

in matters concerning grants and purchase invoices:
ostolaskut.hyksinstituutti@hus.fi

Research service team contact details

in matters concerning messages from clients and researchers:
HYKSCoordinators@hus.fi

We work together with our partners to offer high-quality research services that help researchers find better and innovative solutions.

Today’s research delivers tomorrow’s care practices.

The operations of Clinical Research Institute HUCH are based on strong values

High quality and efficiency
Customer-oriented and equal approach
Creativity and innovation
Trust and openness