Medical Research Network - Clinical Trial Support Organisation

The Medical Research Network (MRN) is a unique clinical trial support organisation (CTSO). The MRN has been involved in the conduct of over 50 clinical trials across a wide range of therapeutic areas, in particular oncology and rheumatology.

Our principle services are:

• Site support – where we place our research nurses into investigator sites to ensure they have the resources and expertise to meet their study commitments
• Home trial support – where our nurses carry out a percentage of trial visits in the patient's own home

These services have been found to enhance patient recruitment by at least 60% and improve retention to over 95% in most cases, ensuring faster trial delivery in today's challenging research environment.

MRN services will:

• Increase recruitment and retention of patients
• Drive cost effectiveness
• Open up new sites and patient populations to clinical trials

Support and home trial nurses

Across Europe and North America the MRN partners with organisations that have access to large banks of nurses, research nurses and other clinical trial professionals. Where appropriate, MRN employ site support nurses directly. Home trial nurses are identified via our partners and then trained and managed by internal nurse managers so that they are able to perform trial visits in the home. All MRN nurses are fully qualified, GCP and study trained, and are typically experienced in administering complex therapies. They make standard patient assessments, supervise questionnaires, take blood samples and record clinical trial data into source documents or case report forms.

The local home nursing teams are managed by a dedicated team of MRN nursing managers, clinical project managers and clinical trial associates (CTAs) who ensure all activities are comprehensively scheduled, controlled and tracked.

Compounding, dispensing and delivery of medications

The MRN is further supported by partners providing services including a centralised pharmacy, specialised national and international cold chain logistics, with the capacity for reliable compounding, dispensing and delivery of medications to trial sites or to the patients' home. In addition, MRN can provide project management, clinical monitoring, medical monitoring and data management services, therefore offering a fully outsourced project solution.

The primary points of focus within the MRN can be summarised in two ways – broadening access to patient populations by providing sites with the resource and expertise to take part in trials, and reducing the burden of the trial on the patient's life, making them more likely to participate.

The MRN delivers services that meet and/or exceed the quality standards demanded by patients, physicians, pharmaceutical companies and regulatory authorities. The benefits delivered through the MRN's quality approach include: timely study completion, credible and accurate data, increased medication and study compliance, reliable cold chain management, and a commitment to continually improve practices.

Clinical trials support

The MRN was launched by Dr Graham Wylie (CEO) as a separate UK limited company in November 2006. Originally founded as a division of Healthcare at Home (HAH) in 2005, the MRN was created to formalise their clinical trials support business developed over the previous 14 years, during which time HAH had helped many sites and companies run components of clinical trials using their nurses and pharmacy groups. At that point, the new services were formalised into those offered today and launched onto the market.

After an initial nine months of marketing the new services, the division was spun off as an MBO. In preparation, the management was augmented to add key data management and project management skills. Since then the MRN has already supported over 50 new projects.

Approaching the end of their third year of independent trading the company is in great shape and expects to record 100% growth this year with a broad base of customers pursuing long term projects.

What is a CTSO?

A CTSO is an organisation that provides services to make trials faster and more cost effective by ensuring sites have the support they need to meet their full potential within a trial and by providing innovative solutions to recurring problems of recruitment, technology, patient access, compliance and market development.

The Medical Research Network Ltd
15 Presley Way
Crownhill, Milton Keynes
Buckinghamshire
MK8 0ES

Stuart Redding (Director) stuart.redding@themrn.co.uk
Tel: 0800 032 2348
www.themrn.co.uk