[Multicenter psychopharmacologic research and the data bank].

The indications and the characteristics of the multicenter clinical trials are considered and the BLIPS/BDP system is showed in detail as developed at the Institute of Clinical Psychiatry of the University of Pisa within the cooperation with the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH-USA) at the Center for Clinical Psychopharmacology Data Documentation (CCPDD). The characteristics of the BLIPS/BDP system in the storage, retrieval and documentation of data derived from clinical trials on psychotropic drugs are reported. Finally, examples are given of the large number of possible utilizations of the BLIPS/BDP Data Bank documenting its flexibility and versatility and the extent of its possibilities.