Clinical trials: Number started in UK fell by 41% in four years, finds report

The number of industry backed clinical trials started in the UK each year fell by 41% between 2017 and 2021, concluded a report by the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry.1

The ABPI found that drug companies have increasingly placed their trials in other countries, such as Spain and Australia, and that this has already affected the UK’s world ranking for phase III industry clinical trials, falling from fourth place in 2017 to 10th in 2021.

The declining number of new trials has also resulted in nearly 22 000 fewer patients being enrolled in clinical trials between 2017-18 and 2021-22 (a fall of 44%, from 50 112 to 28 193 …