Pharmaceutical Product Development, LLC (PPD) and The Scottish government, NHS Research Scotland (NRS), have entered an alliance aimed at increasing the amount of clinical research conducted in Scotland, accelerating the development of new therapies, and enhancing treatment options for patients in Scotland.

PPD will work closely with the major health boards in Scotland in an effort to reduce study start-up times, streamline regulatory approval processes, increase the number of patients recruited for trials and ensure the availability of resources and training to increase the number of physicians and support staff conducting research.

The initiative covers a range of Phase I-III trials across multiple therapeutic areas, as well as biosimilar and post-approval studies. PPD's team of more than 300 professionals in Bellshill, Lanarkshire offers services in clinical management, data management, project management, pharmacovigilance, biostatistics and quality assurance. Key focus areas for the Scottish government include cardiovascular disease, dermatology, gastrointestinal disease, infectious disease, inflammation/immunology, metabolic disease, neuroscience, oncology, ophthalmology, psychiatry, respiratory disease, stroke, tissue research and women's health.

"Scotland's intellectual and technical resources, coupled with recent advances in streamlining processes for conducting clinical research, make Scotland an extremely attractive location for clinical research," said Roger Newbery, Ph.D., PPD's vice president of clinical management for Europe, Middle East and Africa. "The population's high participation rate in clinical trials and our new collaboration should enable us to assist our clients in accelerating their important research programs in Scotland."