Open for Science: Why the World Chooses Britain

With 54 commercial sponsors and over 5,300 active trials, the United Kingdom has become one of the world's most compelling destinations for clinical research. The reasons why run deeper than geography.

The numbers are extraordinary. More than 5,300 active commercial clinical trials are currently under way or in preparation across the United Kingdom, a figure that dwarfs most comparable economies and one that reflects something far more deliberate than chance. Fifty-four distinct commercial sponsors, ranging from homegrown biotechs to the very largest names in global pharma, have planted their flags in Britain's research landscape. They are not here by accident. The UK, it turns out, has built something genuinely difficult to replicate.

Start with the domestic contingent. Verona Pharma, listed in London and developing ensifentrine for non-CF bronchiectasis, is running its Phase 2 trial at home, a natural choice for a company whose scientific roots are embedded in the British academic system. Step Pharma is evaluating STP938, a first-in-class CTPS1 inhibitor, at UK sites in a Phase 1 oncology study. Mundipharma Research, headquartered in Cambridge, is conducting the ReSPECT study, a landmark Phase 3 investigation of rezafungin for invasive fungal disease prevention following bone marrow transplant. These are not small programmes. They represent genuine, high-stakes science being anchored here, by companies that know exactly what British clinical infrastructure can deliver.

The NHS is, in effect, a national research asset — a single integrated system that allows sponsors to access deeply phenotyped patient populations at a scale no fragmented private system can match.

But it is the international cohort that truly illuminates why the UK's position is so strong. AstraZeneca, headquartered in Cambridge, runs more active trials in the UK than almost any other sponsor, spanning biliary tract cancer, NSCLC, metastatic prostate cancer, DLBCL, and gastric cancer. That a company of AstraZeneca's scale conducts so much of its own pivotal research domestically speaks volumes about the quality of the NHS as a research partner. The health service's integrated electronic records, established research networks, and experienced principal investigator community make it genuinely faster and more reliable to run trials here than in many alternative locations.

Cambridge, UK, City View

For companies headquartered elsewhere, Britain is equally compelling. Daiichi Sankyo chose UK sites for TROPION-Lung07, its pivotal Phase 3 study of datopotamab deruxtecan in metastatic NSCLC, one of the most watched lung cancer trials of this generation. Bristol-Myers Squibb is running ROSETTA CRC-203, its pumitamig plus chemotherapy programme in metastatic colorectal cancer, with 263 global locations including British centres. The KarXT Alzheimer's programme, MINDSET 2, is recruiting here too. When sponsors with 200-plus global site options consistently include the UK, the message is unmistakeable: British sites perform.

Rare disease is perhaps where the UK's advantages shine most brilliantly. Spark Therapeutics is evaluating SPK-3006 in late-onset Pompe disease. Rocket Pharmaceuticals is running its RP-A501 gene therapy programme for Danon disease at UK centres. Vico Therapeutics, developing VO659 for spinocerebellar ataxia and Huntington's disease, chose British sites for its first-in-human intrathecal dosing study. The pattern here is consistent, diseases so uncommon that every eligible patient in the country matters, and where the UK's ability to rapidly identify and refer those patients through a unified NHS system is simply irreplaceable.

For rare disease sponsors, the NHS is not just a healthcare system. It is the most efficient patient-finding machine in the world.

Then there is the regulatory environment. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has, since Brexit, moved swiftly to establish the UK as a competitive approval pathway, including expedited access routes for innovative medicines. Combined with the MHRA's historically constructive engagement with sponsors during trial design, this creates a regulatory climate that encourages early placement of novel programmes. Lundbeck chose UK sites for its Phase 3 eptinezumab paediatric migraine prevention study. Gesynta Pharma, a Swedish biotech, selected Britain as one of its primary locations for the NOVA Phase 2 endometriosis trial. Pharvaris chose the UK for its deucrictibant Phase 3 programme in acquired angioedema. These decisions reflect months of due diligence.

Looking at the full commercial sponsor landscape from GSK and AbbVie to argenx, BeOne Medicines, and 89bio, what emerges is a portrait of a country that has quietly, systematically made itself indispensable to global drug development. The NHS provides the patients. The universities provide the science. The MHRA provides the regulatory clarity. And decades of investment in clinical research infrastructure; research nurses, trial coordinators, ethics committees, NIHR networks, provide the operational excellence that turns a promising protocol into a completed, publishable trial.

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COG UK

Location: London, United Kingdom

Audience Catchment: Senior executives from across the spectrum of UK trial sponsors, including biotech start-ups, major pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and solution providers serving the UK market.

Key Themes Discussed: COG UK focuses on the unique proposition of clinical research in the United Kingdom, where a thriving private sector works alongside the NHS, the world's most comprehensive nationalised healthcare system.

The event highlights:

• UK-specific regulatory and operational considerations

• Collaboration between private sector and NHS research infrastructure

• Innovation emerging from the UK's world-leading academic sector

• Post-COVID/Brexit research landscape and the UK's leadership role

• Integration of small biotech sponsors with established pharmaceutical companies

• Vendor selection and management for the UK market

The conference features content delivered by thought leaders from industry, regulatory bodies, and academia, providing attendees with actionable insights for conducting clinical trials in the UK market and Internationally.

Find out more: https://www.thepbcgroup.com/cog-uk