Hospitals research unit receives £1m funding

The Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) pharmacy clinical trials unit has reached capacity

Hospitals in Oxford have been awarded £1m to fund new research facilities and equipment.

The funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is to help the Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) pharmacy team meet growing demand.

The team has reached capacity and requires new equipment and space to increase clinical trials.

Prof Adrian Banning, OUH director of research and development, said he was "delighted" to receive the funding.

It came as part of the NIHR's capital funding to NHS organisations that are part of its biomedical research centre and clinical research facility infrastructure.

Oxford's pharmacy team has found additional space to meet the increasing demand, but it needs refurbishing "to provide the necessary security and environmental controls for the storage of clinical trial supplies", OUH said.

It will also go towards a two-glove isolator, which is used for preparing individual doses of trial medicines, and dedicated freezers, refrigerators, and racking to store the drugs.

'Great news'

Michelle Taylor-Siddons, OUH associate director of pharmacy for clinical trials, research and manufacturing, said: "This additional funding will allow us to expand our capacity to trial ground-breaking new therapies and make us an attractive partner for companies developing these products.

"The income we receive from these trials will enable us to maintain all of this new equipment, but this injection of capital is vital for getting it up and running."

She said it was also "great news for OUH patients, as it will mean more of them will have access to pioneering new treatments".

Prof Banning added: "This funding gives us another opportunity to cement the fruitful collaboration between the trust and the University of Oxford, who are working together to develop revolutionary new treatments that improve the lives of our patients."

The trust also received funding to expand its ultrasound imaging capability for lymph node biopsies, as part of the clinical trials of novel therapeutics and vaccines.

Dr Katrina Pollock, an OUH consultant and researcher at the Oxford Vaccine Group, said they needed to "keep pace with the expanding portfolio of clinical studies".

In addition, a FibroScan, which measures liver fibrosis and predicts clinical outcomes for people with certain liver conditions, will also be purchased, as will a new plate reader in the Oxford Centre for Haemostasis and Thrombosis, allowing more detailed analysis of samples from people with bleeding and clotting disorders.