Is the UK falling behind in clinical trials?
pharmafile | April 21, 2009 | News story | Research and Development |Â Â NHSÂ
New initiatives to bolster collaboration between the NHS, academia and industry have come amid claims that the UK is losing its standing in clinical trials.
The UK is thought to be losing ground in particular to lower cost emerging markets in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia.
In global ranking of overall country effectiveness for clinical trials, the UK now ranks equal sixth with the Czech Republic after the US, China, India, Russia and Brazil, according to authoritative research by Centerwatch. The ranking is based on analysis of a number of factors including cost efficiency, regulatory conditions, infrastructure and environment.
The concerns about the UK's clinical trials environment were summed up in the recent report by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP).
It found that during 2005-6, the average time from notification of a clinical trial to the first patient visit was 101 days, but that time has now increased to 173 days. Meanwhile the cost-per-patient in clinical trials is now higher than in the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Germany, France, Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic.
Finally, ABPI figures show that 28% of UK trial sites failed to recruit patients in 2007, up 5% from the previous year.
Dr David Gillen is the newly appointed head of Pfizer's medical team's primary care business unit for Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and was a key contributor to the RCP report.
He believes the UK is indeed sliding down the international rankings in clinical research.
He said: "The problem the UK has had over the last few years is the cost of research, but more importantly, we haven't delivered properly in clinical trials. And therefore companies, who are under pressure to try and bring medicines to patients quicker and more cost effectively are looking at conducting them elsewhere in the world."
Gillen says the UK's deterioration is unfortunate, since new initiatives set up between industry and government are now showing promise.
He adds: "The irony is that the Department of Health – and increasingly people in the NHS – are showing that they recognise more needs to be done. The challenge is that the timing of that enthusiasm is a bit late."
Gillen says there has to be "there has to be enthusiasm", and this has come in the shape of new academic research centres, and pledges in the Cooksey report to nurture research in the UK.
But is the trend reversible? Gillen doesn't believe research will return to previous levels, but he is optimistic that if the right people in the NHS, academia and industry work together then the UK could be competitive again within just a few years.
The job market
Looking at the UK from a different perspective is Matthew Perrett, chief executive of Hobson Prior, which specialises in recruitment in clinical research. He is less pessimistic about the UK's clinical trials base, and says the job market in clinical research is not declining, merely changing.
Perrett says those wanting to stay in clinical research need to "move themselves up the value chain".
He says the UK market for clinical research jobs is not drying up, only refocusing on more specialised roles.
Hype about emerging markets has given the false impression that the G7 group of most developed countries (including the UK) are no longer of core importance, he says, but is sure these markets will remain key to growth in the future.
He said: "From our perspective, we are seeing a continued level of demand across a broad range of the G7 countries, which continue to be a core focus for development, as there remains significant levels of unmet medical need across those countries."
Perrett builds on these facts with his own experience, and says: "We are working with clients in the UK at the moment whose headcounts have increased, across all their function spaces."
The specialist shift
But the nature of work available has undergone a noticeable shift.
Perrett says: "What employers are looking for are highly specialised roles. The demand for clinical research employees at the higher level of capability has gone up."
This reflects the changing nature of pharma R&D, with companies seeking greater speed within trials that are based around innovation in speciality therapeutic areas. For this, he says specialist people are needed to run the trials.
Perrett believes as specialty medicines become a key driver for pharmaceutical businesses, clinical trials staff will start to move into very focused therapeutic areas, instead of remaining a research associate capable of acting on any sort of trial.
He adds it will "do away with the layer of people that are 'do-anything' or generalist individuals".
"Talent acquisition and the war for talent hasn't stopped, it's just changed its focus."
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