How Scotland can turn research into better care for patients

Michelle Conway, Head of External Affairs at ABPI Scotland, reflects on the recent NHS Scotland Event 2026 and argues that research into medicines and their adoption must go hand in hand.

Scotland has a strong foundation for health research. Scotland’s universities and clinicians have international standing, its integrated NHS makes it possible to work across primary and secondary care, and the NHS, academia, government and industry have a long track record of working together, which is often referred to as the “triple helix.”

At our ABPI-supported session at the NHS Scotland Event in September, I joined a discussion about how to build on those strengths for patients. One point stayed with me: bringing clinical trials to Scotland and making new treatments available to patients are two parts of the same challenge.

Scotland has much to be proud of. Its four Clinical Research Delivery Centres are expanding capacity for commercial studies and reaching communities that have historically had fewer chances to take part. Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak, Scotland's Chief Scientist for Health, told the session that trial recruitment rose by around a fifth between 2024 and 2025. Scotland also recruited the first patient in Europe to five studies, and the first patient in the world to two.[1]

Behind those figures are people in Scotland gaining early access to potential new treatments. To keep that momentum, we need to understand what companies weigh up when they decide where to place a trial: these are speed of set-up, reliable recruitment, high-quality data and the standard of care patients already receive.

That ‘standard of care’ point deserves more attention. Many clinical trials compare a potential new treatment with today's standard of care. Where there is a lack of access to the latest treatments, it can result in an outdated standard of care that can’t be a comparator for new therapies in clinical trials. That can make it harder for a site to take part in a trial, and Scottish patients may miss the chance to be involved. For ethical reasons, trial sponsors also want to know whether a health system will be ready to use an innovation if it proves effective.

This is why research and adoption cannot be separate conversations. They are parts of one ecosystem. Strong research brings patients early access to a medicine and gives clinicians experience of delivering it, and a health service ready to adopt innovation makes Scotland a more attractive place for the next study. When the NHS is ready to adopt effective medicines, many more patients benefit once the trial ends.

That readiness needs to start early. New medicines may require diagnostic tests, different clinical skills or changes to a care pathway. Professor Alison Strath, Scotland's Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, described how the Horizon Scanning Advisory Board (HSAB) helps health boards anticipate the requirements for disruptive medicines before they are considered for routine use. The pharmaceutical industry has a responsibility here too: to share information about medicines in development earlier and help the NHS plan for what patients will need.

Research capacity is part of the same picture. Clinicians and research nurses who run trials gain direct experience of emerging treatments and what it takes to deliver them. As Professor Jann Gardner, Chief Executive of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde argued, research should be part of how the NHS develops its workforce and improves services every day.

None of this makes adoption simple. Health boards face significant financial and workforce pressures, and new treatments must be assessed carefully and introduced in ways that work for patients and services. But spending on research, diagnosis and effective treatment should be considered an investment rather than a cost, and as part of a virtuous circle. Industry clinical trials bring resources, treatments and knowledge into the NHS to benefit patients, and earlier diagnosis and better treatment can help people stay well, remain in work and need less intensive care later. Early, joined-up planning helps make sure that investment delivers for patients.

Scotland's size is an advantage. It allows the people who shape care to come together quickly. Over the next year, we should use that advantage in three ways. We should make joined-up planning routine, so that knowledge of medicines in development informs decisions about tests, workforce and pathways well before patients need them. We should protect research capacity, including the staff who make trials possible, even when budgets are tight. And we should make better use of data to understand the outcomes medicines deliver for patients in practice.

If we do this, Scotland will be better placed to attract the next clinical trial. More importantly, patients across the country will benefit sooner from what research delivers. That should be the measure of our success.

[1] Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak, Professor Alison Strath, and Fiona Cochrane, Catalysing the medicines ecosystem in Scotland, Sept 2026