Clinical Trials Data: New Statesman Editorial
In September 2024 Alzheimer’s Research UK’s head of policy, David Thomas, authored an editorial in the New Statesman magazine. The article outlined the opportunities facing the new Labour government, as it prepares its Life Sciences Strategy for the UK, and how the right strategy could make Britain a world leader in dementia research.
The article can be found here: Putting a stop to dementia – New Statesman
The article refers to statistics from Alzheimer’s Research UK’s own unpublished internal analysis of clinical trials data. These analyses are provided below for clarity.
The UK’s global ranking for trial initiation fell from 2nd to 6th place between 2014 and 2023.
The below chart shows the number of interventional clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease initiated per year between 2008 and 2023 for the 10 highest performing countries (in terms of overall trial numbers). For each year, countries are ranked (#1 highest, #10 lowest) based on how many trials were initiated there, and the UK’s ranking is highlighted.
Source: Alzheimer’s Research UK internal analysis, using data sourced from clinicaltrials.gov.
Amongst the top 10 countries for dementia clinical trials initiated in 2022, the UK has the lowest proportion of phase 3 trial sites.
This limits the population’s ability to participate in late-stage trials for innovative new dementia drugs.
The below table shows the top 10 countries in terms of the number of clinical trials for dementia drugs initiated in 2022. For this analysis, all dementia types were included. For each country, a breakdown according to trial phase (P1, P2 or P3) is shown, along with the number of trial sites for each phase. The column on the right shows the proportion of trial sites associated with Phase 3 trials for each country as a percentage of the total number of trial sites. The UK has the lowest proportion of Phase 3 sites of the top 10.
Source: Alzheimer’s Research UK internal analysis, using data sourced from clinicaltrials.gov.