Hero volunteers of pioneering medical trials celebrated by Blackpool Victoria Hospital

More than 870 people have benefitted from ground-breaking medical treatments trialled at the NIHR Patient Recruitment Centre, which launched at the hospital 18 months ago.

The centre’s achievements include administering the world’s first Novavax Covid-19 vaccine after clinical trials began in autumn 2020. It also became the first UK site to open three cancer studies offering early access to new treatments in breast cancer, and saw the first ever UK patient recruited to a Multiple Myeloma (bone marrow cancer) study, undertaken in Blackpool.

READ: 'Why I decided to take part in the new Covid-19 vaccine trial at Blackpool Victoria Hospital'

Some 221 patients have been recruited this year so far, with 50 of these recruited to heart disease studies.

Dr Angela Parker, Blackpool Patient Recruitment Centre (PRC) manager and manager for research, development and innovation at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “In this year alone we have recruited over 230 study participants through the PRC, across a broad portfolio of studies.

“We have recruited first global and first UK patients and this has been done in parallel with our wider, urgent public health research response in light of the significant numbers of Covid patients, many with serious illness, at our hospital.

“We have also broadened our research links across Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre, working in close collaboration with primary care, public health colleagues and the local council as we collectively look to address the health challenges we are facing as a coastal community.”

The centre’s achievements and ambitions for the future will be looked at tomorrow, at a celebration event at the Village Hotel on East Park Drive. It will be opened at 10am by Trish Armstrong-Child, CEO Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Dr Parker added: “By attracting more commercial research to the UK, we will also increase opportunities for our patients to access cutting edge treatment and therapies that are not yet widely available through the NHS."

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