UKCRD news

The UK has demonstrated its capacity to deliver commercial trials with speed and predictability, securing 75 per cent of global recruitment for Moderna’s Phase 3 pandemic avian flu vaccine trial (Odyssey 301).

The Western Health and Social Care Trust has launched Northern Ireland’s first Mobile Health Research Service. Developed alongside the Centre for Research Equity at the University of Oxford, the custom-equipped mobile clinic delivers clinical studies directly into rural and underserved communities, supporting research equity, broadening trial participation, and building trust across the region.

The University of Dundee and NHS Tayside have recruited the world’s first participant to an international study assessing a new combination treatment for adults with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD).

The ABPI’s 2026 flagship Competitiveness Report confirms that sustained collaboration between government, the NHS, and industry is reversing recent trends and delivering "green shoots" for UK life sciences.

A commercial mental health study led by Akrivia Health has demonstrated the speed and scalability of the UK’s digital recruitment infrastructure. The GlobalMinds study, which aims to enrol 50,000 participants across England and Wales to support future mental health diagnostics and treatments, paired a decentralised home-sampling model with targeted outreach via the NIHR Be Part of Research service.

The IRAS process for adding the NIHR’s Be Part of Research volunteer registry as a recruitment/referral route has been significantly simplified and streamlined, including for studies already open for recruitment.