A new temporary pharmacy clinical trials unit (CTU) is set to bolster the health service’s ability to develop ground-breaking therapies in the South of England.
The new unit will be housed at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and will be used to manage a selection of innovative treatments known as advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), which derive from gene, tissue or cell therapy products.
After successfully passing a quality assurance check in June alongside further commissioning, the new facility is now open for operations.
The trust’s associate director of pharmacy, Michelle Taylor-Siddons, who has overseen the project, said: "This new temporary aseptic unit allows us to handle a whole new class of medicines – ATMPs – that could be either standard of care specialist treatments commissioned by NHS England, or it could be within the context of research trials.”
Taylor-Siddons believes the expanded capacity gives the trust an advantage while competing for tenders to provide patient care with these new medicines, as well as the research to develop more innovative medicines.
She continued: "This temporary unit gets us started so we can bid for these tenders and open these trials. It allows us to start the process and give us time to build a new permanent unit which has a much bigger capacity and allows us to lead in this area for years to come."
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