New clinical trials network to boost patient recruitment in UK
pharmafile | March 2, 2007 | News story | Research and Development |Â Â Â
Thousands more patients are set to be enrolled on clinical trials in primary care in the UK, thanks to the Primary Care Research Network, a new government-led initiative.
It is hoped that £2 million in annual government funding for the new network will be sufficient to rapidly increase the number of patients on trials, and the government says it expects numbers to rise threefold.
Many of the trials will be of the kind not normally sponsored by pharma, but it is hoped that the industry will play a major role in the network.
Senior clinicians leading the new network have pledged to engage with the industry and help it overcome obstacles to conducting research in UK primary care.
Professor Paul Wallace, Director of the Primary Care Research Network (PCRN) told Pharmafocus: "There is a real commitment to making the pharmaceutical industry an integral part of the [PCRN] portfolio.
"Part of the drive behind all of this is a recognition that the pharma industry is finding it very difficult to conduct trials in this country, because of governance and fragmentation [in primary care]."
He said it wasn't clear what proportion of the network's programmes would be pharma partnerships, but predicted that primary care would eventually make up 10-30% of trials co-ordinated through the UK's Clinical Research Network.
The PCRN will consist of eight regional teams of specialist doctors, nurses and scientists who will work with GP practices, health centres and dental practices to help raise awareness among clinicians of clinical studies currently recruiting patients.
The network will co-ordinate many different types of study, but most will focus on the areas for which primary care has particular responsibility, including disease prevention and health promotion, screening and early diagnosis, and the clinical management of long-term conditions.
The government says the network will mean patients get quicker and easier access to innovative approaches to managing chronic conditions or benefit from methods of detecting and preventing health problems.
Health Minister Lord Hunt said: "Busy health professionals might not always have access to the latest information on current clinical studies that might benefit their patients, but today's cash injection will help solve this problem.
"The Primary Care Research Network is a world-leading initiative that will open up opportunities for NHS patients to get access to more advice, tests and treatment through trials based close to their homes while also promoting the most effective use of NHS cash."
Professor Wallace said: "The vast majority of patient contacts with theNHS take place in primary care, so it is critically important to have a strong evidence base to inform clinical practice in this area. The PCRN will constitute a unique resource providing patients throughout England with the opportunity to benefit from engagement with primary care studies, and thus to contribute to the development of this evidence base."
PCRN Studies now recruiting
– E-ECHOES (Ethnic – Echocardiographic Heart of England Screening Study) – a screening programme for 4,000 patients from ethnic minority communities in Birmingham to detect the early signs of heart failure.
– DESCARTE – a trial looking at the treatment of severe and acute symptoms of sore throat in everyday practice. Up to 3,000 patients will be included.
– TASMINH 2 – a controlled trial of self-management in hypertension – 480 patients being treated by their GP for hypertension will be taught how to take their blood pressure and adjust their own medication under supervision from their GP. Their progress will then be compared to patients managed by their GP alone.
The PCRN's eight Local Research Networks will be given the task of widening patient participation in suitable clinical studies. Each network will receive an average £250,000 every year to employ dedicated research staff to co-ordinate patient involvement in trials. Team members will include staff from nursing or life sciences backgrounds, such as clinical studies officers, clinical research facilitators and research nurses.
The PCRN will be operational from 1 April 2007 and the eight Local Research Networks are currently recruiting staff for the specialist teams.
