F-CRIN — French Clinical Research Infrastructure Network

Overview

F-CRIN (French Clinical Research Infrastructure Network) is France’s national network for academic clinical research infrastructure, established in the early 2010s through the Programme d’Investissements d’Avenir (PIA) and serving as the French partner organisation of ECRIN, the European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network. It federates the main components of the French academic clinical research ecosystem: the Centres d’Investigation Clinique (CICs), operated jointly by Inserm and university hospital groups and each specialised by disease domain, and the Délégations à la Recherche Clinique et à l’Innovation (DRCIs), which provide local operational and regulatory support at the major French university hospitals. F-CRIN provides investigators and sponsors with regulatory expertise, clinical trial methodology support, training for clinical research professionals, and access to thematic networks covering defined therapeutic areas. As the French ECRIN partner, F-CRIN connects French research sites to multinational academic clinical trials coordinated across Europe through the ECRIN framework, managing the national regulatory and operational logistics that multinational conduct requires.

Network Structure

F-CRIN operates through two principal pillars. The CIC network comprises approximately 30 Centres d’Investigation Clinique distributed across French university hospital groups, each under joint Inserm and DGOS governance, providing standardised clinical research platforms with shared protocols, trained staff, and quality management systems. Thematic networks group CICs and associated research teams around specific disease areas or methodological approaches, enabling coordinated national cohort studies, basket trials, and biomarker development programmes. DRCIs, present at each major university hospital group, handle the administrative, regulatory, and financial management of clinical research at the institutional level.

Role in European Clinical Research

F-CRIN’s affiliation with ECRIN gives French academic sponsors access to a European network for multinational clinical trial conduct without requiring direct engagement with each national competent authority independently. ECRIN provides the international coordination layer while F-CRIN handles French national logistics, including submissions to ANSM (the French national medicines agency), CPP (ethics committee) processes, and interface with the EU CTIS portal.

Connections

• French partner of: ECRIN

Resources

• https://www.f-crin.fr
• https://ecrin.org (ECRIN — European partner network)