Clinical Trial Unit

The Clinical Trial Unit (CTU) supports Swiss Paraplegic Group (SPG) researchers with the planning, implementation and coordination of their clinical research projects by offering a variety of services which include consulting and continuing education.
In particular, CTU workers help study managers to comply with national and international laws and regulations regarding the implementation of clinical research projects at the Swiss Paraplegic Centre (SPC).

The Swiss Clinical Trial Organisation (SCTO) coordinates collaborations between Swiss CTUs. Most of the members of this umbrella organisation are government-funded, university CTUs. The primary purpose of the SCTO is to help its members with the establishment and implementation of internationally-recognised quality standards for conducting clinical studies, the organisation of educational and advanced training opportunities and the management of data. Although CTU Nottwil is not university-based, it was awarded SCTO member status in 2014 after a lengthy and rigorous application process, and now benefits from all the advantages of this network.

Participation in large-scale national and international studies has allowed the SPC Applied Clinical Research Department to develop many connections in the research world. Two of the most prominent of these studies are the EMSCI (European Multicenter Study about Spinal Cord Injury),  SwiSCI (Swiss Spinal Cord Injury Cohort Study) and NISCI (Nogo Inhibition in Spinal Cord Injury) studies. NISCI is a multicenter European clinical trial to enhance regeneration and functional recovery after acute spinal cord injury.

In 2017, the strategic managers of CTU Nottwil teamed up with Lucerne Cantonal Hospital (LUKS) and the University of Lucerne to create the CTU of Central Switzerland. This Central Swiss network seeks to take advantage of an efficient network of applied clinical research partners to enhance the quality of its research.