Over 2,100 people recruited to UK’s largest Parkinson’s disease trial
22 December 2009
The UK’s largest trial in Parkinson’s disease, PD MED, closed in December with over 2100 people recruited. The DeNDRoN Local Research Networks played a key role in delivering this trial, as the PD MED trial team from Birmingham University presented at the 2008 international movement disorders conference.
PD MED is recruiting from 97 NHS hospitals across the country and started in 2000. Up to May 2007, 60% and 40% of patients had been recruited from areas of the country supported by DeNDRoN LRNs and not supported respectively. Recruitment had been falling in all areas in 2006 but this decline was reversed in DeNDRoN, but not in non-DeNDRoN, areas from 2007 onwards when the DeNDRoN LRNs became operational. From May 2007 to December 2009 80% of patients were recruited in DeNDRoN supported areas.
DeNDRoN Co-ordinating Centre Assistant Director, Piers Kotting said:
“The key issue raised by PIs when contacted by DeNDRoN LRNs in 2007 was the lack of local funding for the trial. Since research costs were fully met through the HTA grant and no excess treatment costs were identified in the trial, the problem was that the NHS Service Support costs that should have been available to support activity at each of the sites were not getting to where they needed to be under the old Culyer system. DeNDRoN has been able to provide the necessary service support costs at sites within its LRNs and recruitment has doubled. This shows that the Clinical Research Network model can be highly effective.“
Notes
The PD MED trial is an NIHR-funded, multi-centre randomised controlled trial comparing the efficacy and long-term cost-effectiveness of different classes of drug for early and advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Further information can be found at: http://www.pdmed.bham.ac.uk/index.shtml
Contacts
NIHR DeNDRoN enquiries
news@dendron.org.uk
PD MED enquiries
PDTrials@bham.ac.uk