Contract research organisation (CRO) Covance has signed a five-year agreement with a hospital in the north of England to boosts its early-phase clinical research resources.
The US company says its exclusive deal with the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust will improve its ability to recruit patients for phase I trials.
Covance said the driver for the agreement was the rise in the number of sponsors looking to run studies that require healthy volunteers and patients.
Rob Aspbury, vice president and general manager, global clinical pharmacology services at Covance, said: “This is an innovative alliance which is designed to help make the drug development process more efficient and ultimately bring important drugs to market sooner to help patients in need.”
The partners’ will run trials at the Royal Liverpool hospital’s clinical research unit, which was opened in 2009 and will be enlarged under the Trust’s 2017 expansion plans.
The agreement will see the Royal Liverpool hospital work with Covance on early clinical trials on behalf of the CRO’s pharma and biotech clients.
Professor Robert Sutton, director of research and development at the Trust, said: “This is an extremely exciting collaboration with Covance and represents an industry-leading relationship in the world of clinical research.
“We have a successful track record in the field of experimental medicine and are unique in the UK in our investment in clinical pharmacology along with our position in the local health and life science industry. We have the ability to work with new technologies to enhance the effectiveness and safety of new medicines for our patients.”
The news comes several weeks after the NHS was criticised for its promotion of clinical trials to patients following research by the National Institute for Health Research’s (NIHR) Clinical Research Network.