The Makati Medical Center Institutional Review Board (MMC-IRB) was once again awarded a Level III accreditation, the highest level of accreditation given by the Philippine Health Research Ethics Board (PHREB).
Sonia E. Bongala, MD (MMC-IRB Vice Chair) and Filomena L. Montinola, MD (MMC-IRB Member) received the certificate of re-accreditation on behalf of Saturnino P. Javier, MD (MMC-IRB Chairman) at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) on March 17 during the 35th Anniversary of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD).
The PHREB is the policy-making body of the PCHRD that governs research ethics and ethics committees in the country. A Level III Accreditation is the highest level conferred by the PHREB on an ethics board when it has met the following stringent criteria: functionality of the structure and membership of the Ethics Review Committee (ERC), adherence to international, national and institutional guidelines and policies, adequacy of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and consistency in its implementation, completeness of the review process, adequacy of the after-review procedures, adequacy of administrative support for ERC activities, and efficient and systematic recording and archiving.
A Level III ethics board is qualified to review studies involving investigational new drugs (IND) or new devices that are required to support registration for marketing authorization. It also has the privilege to be included in the Ethics Review Resource Committee of the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The re-accreditation process began with PHREB’s site visit at the MMC-IRB in July 2016. The process included document review, interview of the IRB members and staff, observation of the IRB meeting, and visit of the IRB office, document storage and archiving facilities.
The MMC-IRB was first conferred the accreditation in 2014. The re-accreditation came at the heels of the international recognition received by the MMC-IRB from the Forum for Ethical Review Committees in the Asian and Western Pacific Region (FERCAP) in November 2016.
“With the dual recognition from FERCAP and Level III Re-Accreditation from PHREB, the MMC-IRB is well-poised once again to pursue research with the utmost ethical standards guiding human participants,” said Dr. Javier.
He also cited the coordinated efforts of the members and staff of the ethics board, as well as the full support of the MakatiMed leadership—Rosalie R. Montenegro, President & CEO, and Johnny B. Sinon, MD, Medical Director—as instrumental in this twin honors from FERCAP and PHREB.
For more information, please contact MakatiMed On-Call at +632.8888 999, email mmc@makatimed.net.ph, or visit www.makatimed.net.ph.
Left photo: Saturnino P. Javier, MD, Makati Medical Center Institutional Review Board (MMC-IRB) Chairman.
Right photo: Sonia E. Bongala, MD (MMC-IRB Vice Chair, second from right) and Filomena L. Montinola, MD (MMC IRB Member, second from left) receive the certificate of re-accreditation from the Philippine Health Research Ethics Board.
