According to Felipe P-triz, Secretary of State for Research, this agreement "represents a new way of collaboration between public administration and the private sector in order to promote and strengthen Spanish R+D. Also, the preventive nature of the trial incorporates a new approach that is becoming established by the scientific community and means significant financial savings for society".

Emilio Bot-n, President of the Grupo Santander and the Marcelino Bot-n Foundation, has also underlined the importance of this initiative, highlighting the benefits for employees as well as its social impact, within the framework of the bank's and the Foundation's Corporate Social Responsibility policies and their contribution to investigation and knowledge generation in such important fields as health. "It will be an honor for us to collaborate with the CNIC in such a beneficial project for all. I think it will be a really good initiative for society in general, as I hope its conclusions will bring a better quality of life for many people. We are increasingly committing to becoming an example of prevention and our company can be proud of being worlwide leader when it comes to creating cardio-friendly workplaces and environments".

Valent-n Fuster, Chairman of the CNIC, stated that "the PESA CNIC-Santander trial will certainly contribute to improving our knowledge about cardiovascular diseases, allowins us to do a better prevention of their serious consequences. Together with other big investigations, such as the High Risk Plaque (HRP) or the Multi-ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), both of them American, the PESA project will help us settle the future basis for the fight against cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events already known as the epidemic of the 21st century".

Source: Spanish National Cardiovascular Research Center (CNIC)