Pharmacy support
Barts Health's Pharmacies offer a comprehensive range of services to support researchers and funders involved in clinical trials. Assistance is available from the point of inception through to the final archiving of data.
Listed below are the various services available, but specific information about how to get a study through both the feasibility and 'green light' processes can be found in Pharmacy Information Pack for Sponsors [PDF 379KB].
Queries about Clinical Trial Pharmacy services should be sent to the following addresses, depending on the lead hospital site:
- St Bartholomew’s Hospital: ctpharmacy.bartshealth@nhs.net
- Royal London and Mile End Hospitals: rlhpharmacyct.bartshealth@nhs.net
Research Pharmacy services available include:
Pre-initiation phase
- Aid with protocol design
- Selection of appropriate formulations of the study drug, comparator therapies and placebos as necessary
- Sourcing or manufacture of medication/s required
- Assistance with blinding procedures
- Advice on appropriate dosing intervals and schedules
- Outline of expected side effect profiles
- An input to the design of appropriate inclusion/exclusion criteria
- Production of patient information
- Advice on applicable legal and ethical requirements
Trial phase
- Secure storage of trial medication in accordance with the protocol and in a monitored environment
- Dispensing of trial medication
- Maintenance of record accountability and cross-checking with case report forms
- Liaison with company personnel and verification of data
- Counselling of trial subjects
- Reconciliation of returned medication
- Participation in sponsor, Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency or Food and Drug Administration inspections
- Code breaking in emergency situations
- Training of study team in pharmaceutical aspects of trials
Post-trial
- Destruction of returned and unused medication
- Assistance in resolving data queries
- Archiving of trial information in accordance with legal requirements