The UK’s desirability as a clinical trial location is improving, reversing its previously downward trajectory, according to the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI).
The UK was fourth in the world for the number of Phase III trials hosted in 2017 but had dropped to tenth by 2021. In its annual report on the UK’s clinical trial scene, the ABPI found that the UK has now improved to take the eighth spot but remains below other European locations, including Spain (third), Germany (sixth) and Italy (seventh).
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It has also seen improvement in its popularity as a location for Phase II clinical trials and has moved from sixth to fourth globally. However, it dropped in popularity for Phase I trials, moving down one place in global rankings to fifth.
Overall, the UK has seen an increase in the number of clinical trials initiated in the country. It jumped from 411 trials in 2022 to 426 in 2024.
Much of this growth lies with Phase III trials, which increased from 182 to 212 between 2022 and 2023 – a rise of 16.5%. Phase II trials saw a different story, however, remaining flat year on year, while Phase I trials saw a decrease of 26.6% from 79 to 58.
The number of participants recruited into interventional industry clinical trials also fell, dropping by 13.8% from 25,730 to 22,191 in the 2023/2024 period. The drop is significant, pushing the number of participants to a seven-year low.
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By GlobalDataCommercial research studies saw a drastically different story in the UK, increasing three-fold from 44,546 in 2022/2023 to 150,101 in 2023/2024. However, the report did caveat this point by explaining that “the sharp increase in participant numbers was due to a small number of commercial observational research studies, which together recruited upwards of 100,000 individuals”.
Commenting on the report, ABPI chief executive Richard Torbett said: “It’s promising to see that positive government action in response to earlier decline is beginning to pave the way to industry clinical trials recovery, although the UK still has a long way to go to return to its previous globally leading position.
“We urge the government and delivery partners to focus on the recommendations set out in our report to accelerate progress. Positioning industry clinical research as a key element in the forthcoming Life Sciences Sector Plan and NHS Ten-Year Plan will send a signal to global industry that the UK is open for business again.”
The report also made six recommendations to improve the UK’s desirability as a location for clinical trials. These included the recommendation that the £300m VPAG Clinical Trials Investment Programme should be invested in line with pharmaceutical industry expectations to boost capacity and infrastructure.
Other suggestions included prioritising set-up times for trial delivery, streamlining and integrating the UK clinical trials delivery system and embedding research in NHS business by offering patients across all UK locations the opportunity to participate in studies.
GlobalData – the parent company of Clinical Trials Area – assessed the global clinical trials scene at the beginning of this year. In its Clinical Trials in 2024 – A Preview of Trials Planned to Initiate and Estimated to Complete report, it noted that, of the trials planned for 2024, North America had the proportionally highest number of Phase I and Phase II trials, at 24.4% and 50%, respectively.
South and Central America had the largest proportion of Phase III trials at 53.2%, although the absolute number of trials was far fewer than North America, APAC and
Europe. For Phase IV studies, the Middle East and Africa has the highest ratio with 19.6%.
