Major New Clinical Research Centre To Be Established In NI

A new Commercial Research Delivery Centre (CRDC) is to be established with an investment of £12.6 million announced by Health Minister Mike Nesbitt.

A number of Centres are to be established across the UK through the Voluntary scheme for branded medicines Pricing, Access and Growth (VPAG) Investment Programme, and will expand capacity to deliver commercial clinical research across the four nations.

Funding of £12.6 million is being provided over the next five years to deliver on the objectives of the VPAG Programme in Northern Ireland by establishing a Commercial Research Delivery Centre (CDRC), which will act as a regional hub to co-ordinate research activity.

The initiative will allow Northern Ireland to create a dedicated space and resource for efficient end-to-end delivery of commercial trials in Northern Ireland for the first time. Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said: "This Programme is a significant boost for the research ecosystem in Northern Ireland. The funding of £12.6m to establish a Commercial Research Delivery Centre will support the Northern Ireland health research workforce to deliver commercial clinical trials to a broader range of people, not only in Trusts and research facilities, but also in primary care and in the community. This will create more opportunities to participate in research for the whole NI population, and in particular, for people less frequently represented in research."

Also welcoming the announcement, Prof. Ian Young, Chief Scientific Advisor for the Northern Ireland Department of Health said: "The CRDC will ensure that we enhance our competitiveness and uptake of trials, while maintaining our existing high standards of recruitment, expanding our delivery and creating opportunities for collaboration with industry to test innovative new treatments.

"By extending clinical trials access into hospitals and primary care settings, the CRDC will help ensure that more people can participate in cutting-edge research, bringing benefits to communities, accelerating access to new treatments and helping to place Northern Ireland on the global health research stage."