9th April 2009

ichmond Pharmacology is the FIRST and ONLY Clinical Research Organisation to become part of the UKCRC Experimental Medicines Resources NetworkFollowing an application process and review by the UKCRC Experimental Medicine Resources Review Panel, Richmond Pharmacology has become the first and only CRO to be listed on the UKCRC Experimental Medicines Resources Website.This is a big step forward in the union of commercial research and hospital based research. As the only CRO to have two hospital based clinical research centres, Richmond Pharmacology were eager to become part of this initiative.  Richmond Pharmacology has for a number of years been working with academics and consultants on a variety of early phase trials involving both healthy volunteer and patient panels.The most recent successful union between Richmond Pharmacology and hospital based consultants has come in the form of the completion of a  large scale Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Phase I/Phase II trial. 71 patients with MS have been included in this trial and 70 of the 71 have now completed the intensive 35 day period.

The specialist knowledge and experience of the consultants we worked with, combined with our specialist knowledge and experience of early phase clinical research resulted in a team that was able to deliver a clinically excellent and efficiently run clinical trial.The application process for inclusion on the Experimental Medicines Resources Website was undertaken whilst the afore mentioned trial was underway. Our acceptance by the review panel independently coincided with conclusion of this study. However we believe that the evidence that we can add value to early phase patient trials can only help to strengthen our case for being a part of this resource site.All at Richmond Pharmacology are very excited for what the future holds and believe that this union will be good for Richmond Pharmacology, the UKCRC Experimental Medicines Resources and those in the pharmaceutical industry that make use of this resource and union.The UKCRC Experimental Medicines Resources is a new initiative and is the culmination of many years hard work of many people. Richmond is proud to be part of this initiative and hope that it is beneficial to all concerned. Please see below for further information:The UKCRC Experimental Medicines Resources is a new definitive information resource on UK experimental medicine research. It provides, for the first time, a central information repository on the UKs capability and expertise in experimental medicine and early phase clinical trials.The new resource will act as an optimum entry point for investigators from both industry and academia seeking information about experimental medicine facilities in the UK.The new database contains up-to-date information on available expertise, resources, techniques and technologies in experimental medicine.Users of the site can search for facilities by location, health or disease category, or skills and equipment available.This web resource has been developed by the NIHR CRN CC on behalf of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC)