OP Uusimaa OP Uusimaa to support pharmaceutical and device trials involving children and young people with 175,000 euros

OP Uusimaa’s mission is to promote the sustainable prosperity, security and wellbeing of its owner-customers and operating region.

-   “As a bank owned by our customers, we regularly ask our customers what they would like us to do for the people in our operating area. For our owner-customers, acts related to the wellbeing of children and young people have been the priority for several years”, says Marketing and Communications Director Hanna Korhonen.

It has therefore been natural for OP Uusimaa to become a founding donor for the Association of Friends of the University Children’s Hospitals in the project to accelerate pharmaceutical and device trials involving children. The research will help provide children and young people with treatments that are more effective and safe.

-   “We are proud to be part of supporting this valuable work. We believe that by participating in this project, we will contribute to a future that is better and gives more hope to the next generations”, emphasises Hanna Korhonen.

Visible results through cooperation

Research involving children is necessary for the development of medical care specifically for children. The results of the research unit will benefit sick children and their families across Finland. 

The project to accelerate pharmaceutical and device trials involving children and young people in the New Children’s Hospital of HUS is progressing well. OP Uusimaa’s contribution has helped improve the effectiveness of clinical research involving children by, among other things, supporting doctoral researchers in starting their research and by enabling more extensive use of the children's biobank and data pool for research purposes. 

Trials involving children are more demanding than those involving adults, which raises the threshold to launch them. Public research funding for clinical medicine has decreased within the past ten years, which has increased the need for external funding. 

-   “We are extremely grateful to OP Uusimaa and its customers – their support for the acceleration project has been of critical importance. The project has already enabled us to take considerable steps to improve the health of children. Four project employees have worked tirelessly to ensure the progress of trials, which has, for example, enabled us to prepare 13 research projects for the authorities”, says Anu Rapeli, Executive Director at the Association of Friends of the University Children's Hospitals.

 -   “Overall, the annual research volume has grown by 41% during the project. In addition, the project includes two extensive data pool studies in the areas of medication for newborns and developmental disorders in children’s neurology. Progress has also been made with biobank samples in line with the objectives: the number of biobank consents collected from families has increased by as much as 140%”, adds Anu Rapeli.