Our teams and volunteers come together to form a unified community in the service of medicine and our patients.
InoKura, Wallonia’s only independant clinical research centre
Based in Liège and specialising in Phase I trials, we work with healthy volunteers to test the reliability of new drugs. InoKura is an independent company driven by healthcare innovation which uses its proximity and truly human character to serve its patients.
Values based on solidarity
Solidarity
Responsibility
We respect procedures and protocols, as well as our volunteers’ privacy and well-being.
Freedom
Our clinical trial participants are free to withdraw their consent at any time.
Location
Located at the heart of the Liège University Hospital infrastructure, our teams are always close to our volunteers.
What exactly is a clinical trial?
Drugs being made available to patients is the result of a long process that lasts between 10 and 20 years. It all begins in a laboratory, where researchers identify molecules of interest and test them on diseased cells.
If the results of these initial tests are conclusive (i.e., if the molecule shows signs of efficacy on diseased cells without presenting major risks to healthy cells) and then go on to be validated by the competent authorities, the “drug candidate” can then be tested on humans.
This first clinical stage (also known as a Phase I trial) consists of assembling a group of healthy volunteers, chosen according to specific criteria, who try the drug to prove that it is harmless to patients. If the results of Phase I are also conclusive, the drug enters Phase II trials.
Why use healthy volunteers?
We generally look for volunteers aged between 18 and 65, in good health, with no serious medical history and who are not taking long term medication long-term. The aim of our studies is to test the action of a drug on the body from its entry to its exit: how long it takes to act, how long it acts for, how long it remains in the body…
Phase I trials use healthy volunteers to avoid the possibility of interaction between long-term medication and the one being tested in the trial.
Our team
