For the past three years, the Wellcome trust has been funding the building and equipping of clinical research facilities in several UK universities. Credit: WELLCOME TRUST

Rarely have areas of basic science been more ripe for development into applications than those of the molecular genetics and biology flowing from the human genome project. Yet there is a global lack of the clinical research pivotal to the transformation. “Less is being done, and it is less well done,” says Helen Cope of the Clinical Careers Initiative at the Wellcome Trust.

In an attempt to reverse this trend in Britain, the Trust has for the past three and a half years been funding the building or refurbishment and equipping of clinical research facilities in Birmingham, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Manchester and Southampton. The National Health Service Trusts will pay the running costs, including salaries for core staff, such as research managers and nurses, while the research councils will pay for the research through grants to clinical researchers at the universities.

The aim of the initiative is to bring the clinical and academic worlds closer together, something that is essential, says Cope, if the science emerging from the human genome project is to reach patients. Yet the facilities alone will not be enough. Doctors pursuing serious research usually take longer to reach consultant level than if they followed a service role within the NHS. Both the Wellcome and the Medical Research Council attempt to make the research option more attractive by offering fellowships.

Several diploma and masters courses in the United Kingdom give an overview of drug development for anyone working in clinical research or some other aspect of drug development within any clinical organization.

If a drug is to be licensed for use, each step of the process must also satisfy the regulatory authorities. “Regulatory affairs is a growth area and will continue to be,” says Nicky Lilliott, of the Association of British Pharmaceutical Companies.

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