Who are we?
We’re arguably London’s leading medical research unit doing trials with healthy volunteers. We’ve done more than 850 trials, with an exceptional record for safety and putting our volunteers first.
We work mainly for ‘blue chip’ pharmaceutical companies like GSK, Eli Lilly, Merck, Sharpe & Dohme and Sanofi-Aventis. We have 230 highly trained staff, including 10 doctors, 40 nurses and over 120 graduates or PhDs. Our Medical Director has nearly 30 years’ experience of clinical trials. All our ward staff are enrolled in a unique, university-accredited, training programme, which lasts 18 months, and for which we received a National Training Award.
Since 1993, more than 13,000 volunteers have done a trial here. Many come back to repeat the experience. See what our trial participants said about us here.
Our phase 1 unit
HMR is one of the largest phase1 units in Europe. Our spacious new premises have first-class facilities for carrying out early trials of new medicines: 145 beds; a separate outpatients facility; laboratory; pharmacy; and offices.
We have outstanding new facilities for the volunteers who take part in our trials: restaurant-standard food cooked fresh every day; air-conditioned wards; separate toilets and showers for men and women; computers with wireless internet access; widescreen TVs, Sky and games consoles; range of DVDs, books, daily newspapers and board games; large recreation and dining area; secure storage for belongings; and short walk from underground stations.
Our clinical trials
We usually give a new medicine to healthy people aged between 18 and 45 first, to check it’s safe and to find out what the body does to it. If it’s going to be given to elderly patients, we may test it first in healthy people over 60. If the results in healthy people are encouraging, we then test it in patients who have the disease for which it’s being developed, to see if it’s effective.
We specialise in studies in healthy people but, we also do some of the first studies of new medicines in patients with conditions such as asthma, migraine and diabetes.
When we do our medical research studies, we follow strict laws and guidelines to make sure that we comply with Good Clinical Practice (GCP). They make sure that researchers who do studies of new medicines in people, such as in paid or unpaid clinical trials do them to high standards. Our facilities and staff meet the highest of standards for testing new medicines set by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) – the Government organisation that controls new medicines.