Boosting clinical trials in the UK

Epilepsy Society has welcomed new plans to boost clinical trials in the UK as part of the NHS 10-year health plan.

The government has announced that millions of people will now be able to search for and sign up to lifechanging clinical trials, via the NIHR Be Part of Research service on the NHS App, allowing patients to browse and find the trials best suited to their interests and needs.

Adults across the UK are being urged to register, with underrepresented groups including young people, Black people and people of South Asian heritage particularly encouraged to sign up, at https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/.

 Professor Sanjay Sisodiya, Director of Transformation at Epilepsy Society and Professor of Neurology at UCL said: “We welcome this initiative.  It will mean that people can more easily find trials that may be appropriate for them. Additionally, it links in with the Society’s ambitions as a charity, working with UCL and UCLH, to host more trials at Chalfont, bringing the possibility of new treatments for epilepsy.”

In recent years, the UK has fallen behind as a global destination for these trials, with patients and the wider economy missing out. It takes around 100 days to set up a trial in Spain, but around 250 days in the NHS. The plan will see commercial clinical trial set-up times fall to 150 days or less by March 2026 - this will be the most ambitious reduction in trial set-up times in British history.