Commercial Research in General Practice

Why Primary Care Is the Right Setting for Your Study

The shift from hospital-based to community-based research is not just a trend — it is a structural change driven by patient need, regulatory expectation, and commercial logic. For sponsors, primary care offers three decisive advantages: the right patients, faster access, and lower cost per recruited participant.

The Right Patients

Most commercially sponsored trials target conditions managed primarily in primary care: diabetes, hypertension, respiratory disease, skin conditions, wound care, women's health, infection, and mental health. The patients who matter to your trial — real, community-dwelling patients representative of the populations who will use your product — are registered with GP practices, not waiting in hospital outpatient clinics.

Hospital trial populations are systematically skewed: older, sicker, more socioeconomically deprived, and geographically concentrated. Primary care populations are representative. For Phase IV studies, NICE submissions, and post-marketing surveillance, this representativeness matters enormously.

Speed of Access

An organised GP network can activate sites, identify eligible patients and enrol the first participant in a fraction of the time required for hospital-based research. PCRA's record is first patient enrolled within 2 weeks of contract signing. For service evaluations — which require no REC approval — setup can be completed in days.

The NIHR has also set a national target of commercial study setup within 150 days of first approach. Organised primary care networks consistently outperform this target.

What to Look For in a Primary Care Research Partner

• GCP compliance — all PIs and research staff should hold current GCP certification
• Regulatory experience — demonstrated capability with HRA, REC and MHRA processes
• Track record — evidence of successful study delivery, patient recruitment, and data quality
• Network scale — access to sufficient patient numbers across geographically diverse practices
• Data infrastructure — established data sharing agreements and EHR research capability
• Single point of contact — network management that removes the burden of individual site management from the sponsor

Contracting with GP Practice Networks

Contracting with a GP research network differs from hospital site contracting. Practices are independent businesses — they are not NHS trusts. Commercial contracts are made directly with the practice or its network organisation. PCRA manages all contracting centrally on behalf of member practices, providing sponsors with a single agreement that covers all participating sites.

The PC-CRDC Network — What NIHR's New Infrastructure Means for Sponsors

NIHR's 14 new Primary Care Commercial Research Delivery Centres (PC-CRDCs), established in 2025, represent a significant investment in GP research infrastructure across England. These centres work alongside established networks like PCRA to increase the UK's attractiveness as a destination for commercial primary care research. For sponsors, the expanding infrastructure means more research-ready sites, faster activation, and a more competitive UK offer.