Amid a yearslong clinical trial decline in the U.K., a new public-private partnership has emerged in efforts to reinvigorate the country’s pharmaceutical testing prowess.
The Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicine Pricing, Access and Growth (VPAG) investment program made its official debut Wednesday, according to a release from the U.K.’s top biopharma trade organization, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI).
The program—which combines the powers of the country’s Department of Health and Social Care, England’s National Health Service (NHS) and ABPI—has already snared an up to 400 million pound sterling ($527 million) investment to help accelerate patient access to cutting-edge drugs, bolster clinical trials and improve medicine manufacturing in the U.K. over the next five years.
Additionally, 18 new clinical trial hubs will be created across the country in a bid to hasten research into new therapies.
VPAG’s funding will be channeled into three main areas across the U.K., the country’s health and social care secretary Wes Streeting said in the release.
Seventy-five percent of the investment will go toward an expansion of the U.K.’s clinical trial capacity and capability, with a major part of that focus being the setup of the 18 new commercial research delivery centers, Streeting said.
Researchers will also be able to get their hands on “the latest equipment and technology” so studies can be run across hospital and primary care settings, as well as those in the community and residential care areas, the secretary added.
The next 20% of the funding will help foster sustainable pharmaceutical manufacturing innovation, with the goal of slashing waste and emissions generated by the drugmaking industry.
Meanwhile, the final 5% will be used to support innovative Health Technology Assessment (HTA) approaches, Streeting said. In effect, HTAs are used to assess the cost and clinical effectiveness of new treatments.
This portion of VPAG’s investment will provide support to the HTA Innovation Laboratory operated by the U.K.’s drug cost gatekeeper, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, as well as a new horizon scanning database used to provide information on new drugs coming to market.
ABPI described VPAG as the “first major public-private collaboration of this scale in the world,” with Streeting noting that the initiative is expected to support an “NHS fit for the future.”
ABPI has been calling for a clinical trial revamp in the U.K. for years now.
Back in 2019, the trade organization issued a call for increased clinical research in the country as part of its first clinical trial report. The report found that while sponsors kicked off more phase 1 and 2 clinical trials in the U.K. in 2017 than in any other European country, the island nation was fifth on the list of countries that initiated the most phase 3 starts.
At the time, ABPI said it wanted the U.K. to boost investment in clinical research to keep pace with other countries like China and Germany, which spent a higher percentage of gross domestic product on R&D than the U.K.
In another sign of the recently flagging U.K. clinical trials landscape, local nonprofit the National Cancer Research Institute—which had been in operation for 22 years—had to close its doors last June over lack of funding.
Fiona Driscoll, the charity’s chair, cited the “uncertainty in the wider economic and research environment” as motivation behind the decision. The closure took place despite the U.K. government passing a more than $800 million spending package for the life sciences industry early last year, with a large portion of that outlay aimed at speeding up clinical trials.
More recently, ahead of the U.K.’s general election in July, ABPI put out a challenge for the country’s political parties to blueprint plans designed to unlock the nation's healthcare industry potential. The trade group specifically called on the U.K. to reverse its clinical trial decline, bolster study recruitment and create pathways between genetic testing, personalized medicine access and studies.