On October 21, Clinical Trials British Columbia and GSK Canada jointly initiated and co-hosted an industry-focused roundtable on clinical trials in BC. It was the first industry-focused roundtable initiated by Clinical Trials British Columbia, marking a milestone in their new leadership role.

The meeting brought together leaders from GSK, the BC Ministry of Health, and BC’s health authorities, whose functional roles give them direct insight into the operational challenges of conducting industry-sponsored studies in the province.

This roundtable builds on earlier work to strengthen BC’s clinical trial environment. In 2022, Clinical Trials BC led the development of a shared provincial vision for maximizing the benefits of clinical trials. In 2023, a provincial leadership roundtable identified priority areas for progress. The 2024 situational analysis, informed by 23 industry interest-holders, reinforced these findings and highlighted specific barriers affecting BC’s competitiveness — including long start-up timelines and inconsistent processes across institutions.

The October roundtable focused on four areas already identified in the situational analysis as critical to improving industry-sponsored trial performance: ethics reviews, legal agreements, budget processes, and provincial coordination. These topics were selected in advance by Clinical Trials British Columbia and GSK, with participants invited for their ability to describe current challenges, propose practical solutions, and commit to advancing change.

The session concluded with a set of actionable next steps, marking a collaborative move toward making BC a more competitive and attractive place to conduct clinical trials — and helps bring promising innovations into practice sooner to benefit BC patients.