Landmark moment for UK clinical research as commercial trial set-up hits 100 days

Collective action through the UKCRD programme has enabled the UK to deliver on a key commitment in the government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan, with official figures confirming that 100% of commercial trials starting set-up in the final quarter of 2025/26 met the 150-day target. 

Average set-up times fell to 100 days, down from 153 days during the same quarter the previous year. Published this week on GOV.UK, the results mark a major milestone for UK clinical research and demonstrate what can be achieved when organisations across government, the NHS, regulators, and industry work together to turn ambition into real change.

This progress reflects a shared effort across the research ecosystem to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy, streamline approvals, and standardise contracting across all four nations to create a faster, more predictable environment for global research.

 Professor Lucy Chappell, NIHR Chief Executive Officer and DHSC Chief Scientific Adviser, said:

“Clinical trials change lives. Faster study set-up means patients can gain access to promising new treatments sooner, giving more people the opportunity to benefit from the latest advances in areas such as cancer, vaccines and rare diseases.

“Through our Industry Hub, a one-stop shop for sponsors looking to run research in the UK, and our UK-wide network of Commercial Research Delivery Centres, NIHR is making it much easier to bring world-leading trials to the UK.

“By continuing to push for the UK to remain one of the best places in the world to do clinical research, we’re driving life-changing innovation for patients and the public. We’re also attracting investment, creating skilled jobs and delivering growth that benefits communities across the country.”

Cross-sector perspectives

On regulatory agility:

“A faster, more predictable clinical trials system is essential to helping patients access innovative treatments sooner and making the UK a more attractive destination for global life sciences investment. Working in partnership across the UK research ecosystem, we are creating a clinical research environment that is faster, more agile, and globally competitive.”

 – Lawrence Tallon, Chief Executive, MHRA

On commercial collaboration:

“These figures demonstrate welcome progress in accelerating trial set-up, and we applaud the hard work that has gone into this across government, the NHS, regulators, and the research community. With international competition intensifying, the ambition to double recruitment, and then double it again, is the right one. Achieving it will take a concerted effort, and we look forward to working with the government to deliver on these shared goals.”

 – Richard Torbett, Chief Executive, ABPI

On UK-wide delivery:

“The data released today provides the clearest full-year view of progress in reducing clinical trial set-up times. It shows that working together to prioritise research really does get results. I am proud of Scotland’s contribution to these efforts, with five European and one global first patient recruited to our trials as we work to ensure our patients are among the first in the world to benefit from new treatments.”

 – Professor Dame Anna Dominczak, Chief Scientist (Health), Scottish Government

“This is an important milestone and reflects the progress being made by partners across the UK to make it quicker and easier to set up commercial research. In Wales, we are building on that shared progress through our nationally coordinated, locally delivered approach, connecting research expertise and delivery capacity across NHS Wales to provide an efficient and high-quality offer for commercial trials. For 20% of commercial studies open in Wales, we have the highest recruiting site, and we have one of only a few centres worldwide delivering advanced neurotherapies through intracranial delivery.”

 – Gareth Cross, Director of Health and Care Research Wales and Deputy Director of Science, Research and Evidence, Welsh Government

Next steps: Whole study delivery

UKCRD partners are turning their shared focus to ensuring consistency of study set-up across all sites, whole-study delivery and recruitment at scale.

Supported by investment through the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access and Growth (VPAG) Investment Programme to strengthen research delivery capacity, alongside digital platforms like Be Part of Research, the UK is working towards its ambition to quadruple commercial interventional trial recruitment by 2029 and ensure studies deliver reliably to completion.

Links

• DHSC Press Release on GOV.UK
• Official statistics report on GOV.UK