Pfizer’s Partners with Scottish Health Boards for New INSPIRE Site
Four Scottish health boards have partnered up with Pfizer to become the organisation’s second INSPIRE site within the UK, aimed at driving clinical research.
The four health boards are NHS Grampian, Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Lothian and Tayside.
The health boards have already heavily invested in the research endeavour through NHS Research Scotland (NRS), a collaboration involving Scottish NHS Boards and the Scottish government’s Chief Scientist Office.
The aim of NHS Research Scotland is to ensure that Scotland provides the best possible environment for clinical research. The four health boards are also part of the Scottish Academic Health Science Collaboration (now Health Science Scotland), joining their NHS research experience with academic resources at the Universities of Dundee, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Pfizer’s INSPIRE
Pfizer have over 90 INSPIRE (Investigator Networks, Site Partnerships and Infrastructure for Research Excellence) sites globally. The Scottish partnership follows last May’s announcement that Pfizer was setting up an INSPIRE site in Newcastle, UK.
The INSPIRE programme is a strategic network of sites identified as both highly productive and highly effective in conducting clinical trials.
To qualify as an INSPIRE site, they have to meet strict criteria such as running clinical trials to the highest standards within set timelines; ensuring dedicated, high-quality staff and resources; and expertise in key disease areas targeted by Pfizer’s R&D pipeline.
As part of the programme, Pfizer and the Scottish health boards will share expert knowledge and experience in clinical research to help bring new medicines to patients in Scotland, the UK and around the world.