Faster clinical trials bring cutting-edge treatments to patients

Trials for conditions ranging from cancer to heart disease were set up quicker, meaning patients could receive treatments sooner – easing pressure on the NHS and marking a boost for the UK’s life sciences sector.

The BEATRIX study, which offers pregnant women a government-backed vaccine against group B streptococcus (GBS) to help prevent infant deaths and stillbirths, is one example of research becoming reality in less than 150 days.

The average set-up time for commercial trials in the UK dropped to 100 days in the three months to March this year, down from 153 in the same period last year. All of the 24 commercial trials during those months were set up within 150 days, exceeding the 95% of commercial trials set up within 150-days goal set out in the Life Sciences Sector Plan last year.

It comes after the Prime Minister set out four steps to give people living with brain cancer a faster route from research to treatment last week, following his meeting with Archie Goodburn and the Health and Social Care Secretary.

The progress is yet another milestone in the UK’s life sciences growth, with more than £3 billion in new public-private investment attracted through the first year of the Plan.

Health Innovation Minister James Frith said:

For patients and their families, a clinical trial can offer hope of a treatment that once seemed unimaginable.

That’s why meeting this target is so important. It means more patients will get the cutting-edge care they need sooner.