The aim of the innovative funding project ‘ProbenMaterialCenterBW’ was to bring clinics and the healthcare industry together to ensure better availability of clinical samples and removed implants for research and development.
The healthcare industry is an important core sector in Baden-Württemberg. However, new, stricter EU regulations are putting small and medium-sized enterprises in particular under enormous pressure. Manufacturers of medical technology and diagnostic products are having to contend with drastically increased requirements for clinical evidence, both when introducing new products and when recertifying existing products. One of the biggest hurdles is the lack of access to suitable patient samples and explants, i.e. implants removed from the body. These are essential for continuing to demonstrate the safety and performance of medical and diagnostic products in accordance with EU regulations in the future.
The ‘ProbenMaterialCenterBW’ funding project was launched to ensure that innovative healthcare products continue to be developed in Baden-Württemberg and that vital medical devices remain available on the market. The project, funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism, ran from April 2023 to June 2025. During this period, the two consortium partners, the NMI, the Institute for Natural Sciences and Medicine at the University of Tübingen, and the health network BioLAGO e.V., jointly established a competence network to improve the availability of clinical samples and removed implants for the healthcare industry.
The potential for suitable samples and explants in the more than 200 clinics across the state is enormous. Some clinics are willing to pass on sample material and removed implants to research and development. However, manufacturers have so far lacked systematic access to suitable sample material. In addition, the channels of access to clinics have been rather opaque.
This is where the ‘ProbenMaterialCenterBW’ project came in, by better connecting clinics and industry partners, for example in specialist forums or workshops.
In cooperation with BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg GmbH, the KlinischeStudien-Lotse BW (Clinical Study Guide BW) has been expanded. The KlinischeStudien-Lotse BW presents study centres for clinical studies with medical devices and/or in vitro diagnostics throughout Baden-Württemberg and identifies which institutions provide human (residual) samples for release.
