History of GPMed

The Society for Pharmaceutical Medicine is a scientific forum for doctors, scientists and other healthcare professionals from academia, industry, authorities, and other institutions who are involved in the clinical development of medicinal products. Special attention is paid to the education and up-to-date training of members it to achieve continuous quality improvement. In this way, we want to contribute to raising Austria's international profile as an important location for clinical trials for the benefit of patients.

The association was founded in 1992 by Dr Gerhard Nahler as a company-independent specialist society for clinical research, who also took over the first presidency of the association.
From the very beginning, training in the field of clinical research was a focus of activities. Collaboration on current innovations and topics was also a central concern; for example, GPMed was involved in the development of AMG 1194.
In 1997, a full-day symposium was held on the topic of "Austria as a testing country" with prominent figures from research and politics.

In 2002, Prof Dr Gerfried Nell takes over as President of GPMed. Under his leadership, the GPMed is internationalised and begins to cooperate with other specialist associations such as the DGPharMed and Switzerland. GPMed becomes a member of the IFAPP.

2005 to 2007 DDr Helmuth Schuh becomes President of GPMed.
The "Clinical Trial Directive" is introduced, topics such as quality assurance, international competition and the placement of studies become the focus of the association.

Under the presidency of Dr Ilja Fiser from 2008 to 2010, further modernisation measures were introduced, such as the first GPMed website, close cooperation with AGES/BASG and the introduction of the "Best Inspectee Award".
Dr Fiser advocated the relocation of the association's training courses from the Institute of Pharmacology to Vienna General Hospital, as most clinical trials in Austria took place there. Over the years, there has been continuous development work in communication with many partners to strengthen clinical research in Austria.

Dr Dagmar Doby becomes President in 2011 and remains in this role until 2015. GPMed undergoes a reorganisation. The association's board is opened up to academic researchers and a close liaison is established with MedUni Vienna. Increased networking and stakeholder visits begin, the website is revised and established in its current form, the training courses find a home at Vienna General Hospital.

2011 findet ein gemeinsamer Kongress mit der DGPharmed statt.
Intensive involvement in shaping the clinical trial regulation environment

The ClinOps Circle is established in 2013. It serves as a platform for analysing and discussing key topics from the operational area when conducting clinical trials.

In 2016, Dr Wolfgang Bonitz continues as President following the departure of Dr Doby. He is a founding member of GPMed and provides a point of contact with Pharmig.

Dr Christian Baumgartner becomes President of GPMed from 2017 to 2019. He is heavily involved in contact with stakeholders and founds the communications team, which publishes the GPMedium association newsletter four times a year, among other things.

The current President of GPMed, Dr Johannes Pleiner-Duxneuner, has been in office since 2019 and has set himself the task of making the association "Fit for the Future".
This includes consolidating and expanding existing content, such as stakeholder visits, further training and securing Austria as a location for clinical trials, but also making GPMed more visible through new initiatives and ideas.

One of these innovations is the GPMed Medical Affairs Circle, which has been in existence since 2019. It is a forum for the exchange and development of relevant topics from the field of medical affairs, which represents an independent and essential function within the pharmaceutical industry.