US-based biopharmaceutical services provider Quintiles has added another notch to its global Prime Site programme by striking a partnership with four teaching health boards in Scotland.
The alliance with National Health Service teaching boards in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow builds on Quintiles’ long experience and success in working with NHS Scotland’s four university-based academic research centres in those cities, Quintiles noted.
These sites have “broad therapeutic expertise and a reputation for high-quality research”, it added.
The next step up from Quintiles’ Partner Site programme for high-performing, high-enrolling clinical trial sites, Prime Sites are large medical institutions that collaborate with the company to enhance their infrastructure for conducting clinical studies.
HER advantage
As part of the Scottish Prime Site agreement, Quintiles will introduce new technology to the health boards that uses electronic health records (EHRs) to improve the identification of patients for potential inclusion in clinical research.
It cited Scotland’s “globally recognised” EHR system as part of the rationale for forging a strategic partnership with the four health boards to increase both patient and investigator access to clinical trials.
Scotland also offers a single healthcare provider (NHS Scotland) serving the entire five million population and a solid record of collaboration across NHS Scotland, academia, government and industry, Quintiles pointed out.
Leader in waiting
With around 30 Quintiles studies open at any one time and the government’s Chief Scientist Office strongly focused on metrics, Scotland “has the foundation to be a leader in clinical trial recruitment and study start-up”, the company said.
