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TRAINING & EDUCATION
Life sciences research: The impact on the NHS
The UK clinical research environment in the NHS is going from strength to strength with year-on-year growth in terms of numbers of participants recruited into clinical research studies and the number of studies being supported each year. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is one of the UK’s leading bodies responsible for driving this engine of activity through the NHS and this year reported record breaking figures with more than 725,000 people taking part in more than 5800 clinical research studies across England.
A large proportion of the NIHR’s research is funded by organisations such as medical charities, research councils, the government and the NIHR itself. There’s also a growing portfolio of research that’s sponsored by the life sciences industry, such as pharmaceutical companies and contract research organisations (CROs), which brings a wide range of benefits to patients, the NHS and UK plc. During 2017/18 more people than ever before took part in NHS clinical research studies sponsored by the life sciences industry. The NIHR helped to recruit 50,112 participants into commercial research studies - up 45% on the previous year and bringing the five year total to almost 180,000. Whilst the numbers are impressive, it’s important not to overlook what this actually means for patients, the benefits to the NHS of having access to life sciences studies and trials and the positive future for clinical research in the UK with Brexit on the horizon. Matt Cooper, director of business development and marketing at the NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN), heads up a team whose purpose is to promote the NIHR and its services to funders of commercial and non-commercial clinical research to bring their studies to the UK and onto the NIHR CRN Portfolio. Matt said of this year’s record figures: “It’s been a great year for the NIHR in terms of supporting commercial research and we really must give our thanks and gratitude to research staff in the NHS working to provide patients with the opportunity to take part in commercial research this year. In partnership with the NHS, the NIHR supported more than 1300 commercial research studies, which is an 11% rise on the previous year, and to achieve the 45% rise in patient
NOVEMBER 2018
recruitment is an outstanding achievement.” The NIHR has worked hard over the last eight years to improve its services to support life sciences research. In 2010 only 21% of commercial studies were recruiting the allocated number of patients in the allocated time - referred to as recruiting to time and target - compared to 74% of studies delivering to time and target this year. Much of this improvement is due to the NIHR working closely with the NHS and the life sciences industry to address the areas where there were blockages in service delivery. This led to, changes in practice, a greater understanding in the NHS regarding commercial research and making the NIHR Study Support Service more accessible to the life sciences industry.
James Brook, head of UK and Ireland
clinical delivery at IQVIA, a global CRO added: “IQVIA has a significant proportion of the overall number of commercial research studies on the NIHR CRN Portfolio and we are huge advocates of the NIHR and the services it offers to support the delivery of studies. “Over the last few years, we’ve seen a great improvement in the way the NIHR CRN approaches and supports its offer for the life sciences industry. This has made the UK significantly quicker at setting up and delivering clinical research studies than most of Europe. Good performance in terms of successful delivery to time and target is a significant pull for global life science companies placing their research studies, and the UK is now competing well with the rest of the world.”
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