The APPG for Life Sciences, of which BIVDA forms part of the secretariat, held our third event of the year in Parliament. The session explored how clinical trials are delivered within the NHS, examining both the challenges and opportunities in the current system and considering ways the process could be improved.
BIVDA Board Member and CEO of Glyconics and Symbiotic.blue Kam Pooni spoke on behalf of our organisation, presenting the the dynamics of bringing a diagnostic product to market. Kam asked the attendees to consider the perspective of an SME and challenge assumptions about finance, resource and the different requirements for diagnostics compared to pharma. He also emphasised how each stage of commercialisation is impacted by clinical trials.
Professor Lucy Chappell, Scientific Adviser to DHSC, and Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, Clinical Director at the British Heart Foundation, also provided their thoughts, with a focus on pharmaceutical and clinical challenges. Following the speeches, MPs including APPG Chair Kit Malthouse and Labour representatives Kevin Bonavia MP and Emily Darlington MP were able to contribute to the discussion.
The usual accepted barriers (adoption, cost, time, regulation) were all discussed in context of each viewpoint. However, the value of the conversation came through identifying the priorities for Parliamentarians to take to government to inform recommendations to improve adoption, cost, timescale, and regulations for better access to trials for patients. This ranged from gaining more inward investment and a long-term return for investors, to simpler issues such as Trust level finance processes that fail to support partnership working between the NHS and industry.
