Queen Mary/Warwick Business School - Clinical red tape puts UK at risk

Delays and inconsistencies in the approval process for clinical research could be forcing pharmaceutical companies to look abroad, damaging the UK economy. That is the conclusion of new research by Queen Mary, University of London and Warwick Business School, which is based on a survey of around 250 clinical researchers. The two-year study, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, found that retaining clinical staff is a growing problem for the country. It highlighted the difficulties that hampered researchers including obtaining approval from individual hospital trusts, and the variation in both the time and requirements needed to gain approval.