Scottish patients will benefit from the latest medical advances under a new Pfizer and NHS Scotland partnership for clinical trials.

Further boosting Scotland’s reputation as a global center of excellence for research, four health boards (NHS Grampian, Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Lothian and Tayside) will become a Pfizer INSPIRE site. It will become one of the company’s preferred international sites for future research studies. 

Pfizer and the health boards will share expert knowledge and research experience to help bring innovative new medicines to patients in Scotland, the U.K. and around the world.

Michael Matheson, Minister for Public Health, said, “I believe it is only right that Scottish patients benefit from the medical advances and new treatments that clinical trials make available. That is why the Scottish Government strongly supports clinical research as a way to develop and improve the treatments and services available in our NHS.”

The INSPIRE partnership will put the NHS at the center of all stages of research, from identifying priorities and areas for study, carrying out studies, engaging patients in research and putting the findings into evidence-based practice.

In order to become an INSPIRE site, the health boards met a series of strict criteria and demonstrated high productivity and effectiveness in medicines R&D.

Recruitment to Pfizer (and other) clinical trials will be enhanced by the ongoing success of the Scottish Health Research Register (SHARE), which now exceeds 11,000 registrants.

There currently are over 90 Pfizer INSPIRE sites across the world, with this being the second in the U.K., following May’s announcement of the Newcastle INSPIRE site.