Professor Mahendra Patel, Director of the Centre for Research Equity (CfRE) at Oxford, has described the recent pact his organisation has with the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) on supporting inclusive recruitment to clinical trials as "a landmark and strategic partnership.”
Speaking to Pharmacy Business, he said the collaboration would help enable greater involvement from communities that have long been under-represented or hesitant to take part in research.
Patel emphasised that many such groups - ethnic minorities, disabled people, and those living in deprived, coastal, or rural areas - are often reluctant or unable to engage in clinical trials.
This under-representation, he explained, can narrow the evidence base and often deny these communities the opportunity to benefit from advances in research, ultimately contributing to wider health inequalities.
Patel said this exciting partnership is an encouraging and significant step towards helping to strengthen the evidence base so that research better reflects the nation’s diverse population and, ultimately, supports improved outcomes.
Patel was delighted with the NPA’s decision to team up with the CfRE and expressed optimism that the partnership would help towards addressing these disparities.
With more than 6,000 community pharmacies across the UK, the NPA is well placed, he said, to help strengthen equity in clinical research.
Community pharmacy’s strong relationships with local populations provide a unique opportunity to recruit people from underserved and under-represented areas.
Patel stressed that increasing the sector’s involvement in clinical research recruitment could make the NPA a valuable and nationally recognised resource for organisations and pharmaceutical companies looking to reach diverse communities.
He highlighted his strong commitment, through the CfRE, to widening participation in research, citing the Panoramic trial, which successfully enrolled 25,000 volunteers in under five months, with notable UK-wide recruitment from diverse backgrounds, making it the largest and fastest-recruiting primary care clinical trial in the world.
He went on to add that our partnership complements the recent pilot work announced by us at the Primary Care Clinical Trials Unit at Oxford with Boots, inviting women with UTI symptoms to join the DURATION trial using the Pharmacy First Service.
Alongside these initiatives, the CfRE is working closely with community groups, healthcare organisations, and through partnerships with government R&D agencies in Wales and Northern Ireland, to improve equity in clinical trials and strengthen outcomes.
Patel added that broadening the evidence base in this way will enhance the UK’s standing as a global leader in clinical research.
Based within the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford, the CfRE is an independent, non-profit coalition bringing together community advocates, pharmacy teams, researchers, industry partners, academics, and regulators to promote equitable access to research.
