Clinical trial recruitment in England fell by almost 10% in 2023/2024

The number of people recruited to commercial clinical trials in England in 2023/2024 fell by 9.2% compared with the previous year, according to government data.

The ‘Life sciences competitiveness indicators 2024’, published on 11 July 2024 by the government’s Office for Life Sciences, show that there were 19,984 people recruited to interventional industry clinical trials in 2022/2023, compared with 18,140 people in 2023/2024.

Overall, the number of people recruited to clinical trials in the UK in 2023/2024 was 349,019 — an increase from 342,390 people in 2022/2023. The total number is made up of people recruited to both commercial and non-commercial studies.

Commercial studies are those funded by pharmaceutical or medical technology companies, while non-commercial studies include those funded by universities, hospitals and clinical investigators.

In a summary of the UK’s performance on the indicators, the government said: “The majority of patients recruited to interventional trials in the UK are recruited to non-commercial studies,” with 5% of patients in 2023/2024 recruited to commercial trials.

“This proportion has remained broadly consistent since 2021/2022.”

However, “despite accounting for a minority of patient recruitment in the UK, commercial trials accounted for 46% of interventional trials, a percentage which has remained consistent since 2019/2020”, the summary said.

The government data also show that the UK is slower to use new treatments compared with other countries. The average uptake of new medicines per capita in the UK was around half of the comparator country average one year after launch, rising to 70% after three years.

The comparator countries are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and the United States.

In addition, the data show that pharmaceutical industry investment in UK research and development (R&D) was £9bn in 2022, and that pharmaceutical R&D accounted for 18% of all R&D performed by businesses in the UK in the same year.

On 11 July 2024, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) said that, despite this, the data “show that the UK continues to underperform on its economic and research potential in life sciences”.

Commenting on the figures, Richard Torbett, chief executive of the ABPI, said: “The UK remains genuinely world leading for life sciences in numerous areas — yet we continue to underperform on our potential.

“When we look at what is holding back UK competitiveness and driving investment, it is clear that embedding innovation in healthcare is where our biggest hurdle lies.

“This is why the new government needs to deliver on Wes Streeting’s promise to make sure the Department of Health and Social Care is no longer simply a public services department but also an economic growth department.”