Medicines Control Agency takes over GP research database

The Medicines Control Agency has taken over operation of the General Practice Research Database (GPRD), the world's largest computerised database of anonymised patient records, and will invest £3m ($4.8) over five years towards its development.

It is hoped that the move will counter the falling number of contributing GPs, and database deficiencies and remove the barriers faced by researchers in accessing the data.

The database was initially developed by Dr Alan Dean, a GP, to facilitate management of his own practice. A commercial company, Value …