EUROPEAN FORUM FOR GOOD CLINICAL PRACTICE

Their core work

EFGCP is a Brussels-based non-profit organization that promotes quality and ethics in clinical research across Europe. They specialize in patient engagement frameworks, ensuring patients have a meaningful voice in how medicines are developed and regulated. Their practical contribution to EU projects centers on designing patient education programs, developing good clinical practice guidelines, and advising on regulatory and ethical standards for clinical trials and pharmacovigilance. They serve as a bridge between patient communities, regulators, and the pharmaceutical industry.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

EFGCP's early H2020 work (2018) was firmly rooted in patient engagement infrastructure — building platforms for patient education (EFOEUPATI) and structured patient dialogue in drug development (PARADIGM). From 2019 onward, their focus shifted toward more technical and data-driven health challenges: pregnancy pharmacovigilance with predictive models and biobanks (ConcePTION), and blockchain-based frameworks for combating counterfeit medicines (PharmaLedger). This shows a clear evolution from advocacy and education toward applied digital health and data governance.

EFGCP is moving from pure patient advocacy toward data-intensive health projects involving AI, blockchain, and real-world evidence — making them increasingly relevant to digital health consortia.

How they like to work

EFGCP operates exclusively as a participant, never as coordinator, which is typical for a standards and advocacy organization that contributes domain expertise rather than managing large technical workstreams. With 108 unique partners across 27 countries from just 4 projects, they consistently join large, high-profile consortia (IMI2 and RIA schemes). This means they are well-connected and easy to integrate into big EU consortia where patient perspective and clinical practice ethics are needed.

Despite only 4 projects, EFGCP has worked with 108 distinct partners across 27 countries, reflecting their presence in very large IMI2 and RIA consortia. Their network spans nearly all EU member states, giving them pan-European reach in the clinical research community.

What sets them apart

EFGCP occupies a rare niche as an independent, non-profit voice for clinical trial ethics and patient rights within EU research consortia. Unlike universities or pharma companies, they bring regulatory-adjacent credibility without commercial bias — making them a trusted neutral party for patient engagement work packages. For consortium builders, they are the go-to partner when a project needs legitimate patient involvement and ethical oversight that satisfies IMI2 and Horizon reviewers.

Highlights from their portfolio

• PARADIGM
  Largest EFGCP project (€198K) focused on structuring patient dialogue in medicines development — directly aligned with their core mission.
• PharmaLedger
  Marks EFGCP's expansion into blockchain and machine-learning for health data, an unusual move for a clinical practice ethics organization.
• ConcePTION
  Long-running project (2019-2024) building a pharmacovigilance ecosystem for pregnant women — a high-impact, underserved area in drug safety.