Centralised Contracting Office
Clinical trial start-up time is one of the key considerations when performing site selection for clinical trials. It includes time taken for clinical trial agreement negotiations, IRB approval, regulatory approval and site startup. The time taken for negotiating the clinical trial agreements can go up to six (6) months.
To address the slow contracting time due to legal issues, cost negotiations and response time, NCO has developed a master clinical trial agreement (MCTA) template for sponsored trials together with the Singapore Association for Pharmaceutical Industries (SAPI) and the three (3) public sector healthcare clusters (Singapore Health Services, National Health Group and National University Health System) to shorten contract review time. The terms and conditions in the MCTA template have been pre-negotiated between SAPI and the three (3) public sector healthcare clusters.
Who should be using the MCTA?
Sponsors interested in conducting clinical trials with public institutions across healthcare clusters will find the MCTA to be very useful as it contains pre-negotiated terms and conditions agreed by the healthcare clusters. The MCTA is also useful as a guide for biotechs and new start-ups.
How to use the MCTA?
Users can use the MCTA as is or can adopt the individual clauses into existing agreements. If users are using the MCTA as is, additional requirements to the study can be added to the SCHEDULE. Please write to ncb@scri.cris.sg to request a copy of the MCTA.
Harmonised Clinical Trial Budget Template for Fixed Cost Components
As part of SCRI’s ongoing efforts to strengthen Singapore’s clinical trials ecosystem and improve clinical trial start-up timelines, a harmonised clinical trial budget template for fixed cost components has been developed to support efficient budget preparations for Industry Sponsored Trial (IST) across Singapore’s public healthcare institutions (PHIs) with effect from 1 May 2026.
This initiative has engaged approximately 50 PHIs and industry partners across the ecosystem, with the shared goal of facilitating efficient and timely budget negotiations, and expediting clinical trial start-up processes in Singapore.The harmonised template serves as a cost-neutral, overarching guideline that enhances clarity on charges for fixed cost components, thereby reducing the need for multiple rounds of clarification between sites and sponsors. It streamlines budget negotiations through the following key features:
