UCLB News
New facility for testing orthopaedic treatments
18 September 2008
The Stanmore Clinical Research Facility has opened, offering state-of-the-art clinical research facilities in a partnership between UCL Business and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. Research will focus on areas such as osteoarthritis and osteoporosis.
(L to R) Donald Hoodless, OBE, opens the facility; Mark Flemming, Director Service Companies, UCLB; Professor David Marsh, Head of Centre for Academic Clinical Orthapaedics; Professor Martin Ferguson-Pell, Director R&D, Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital; Cengiz Tarhan, Managing Director, UCLB; Dr Jeff Trickett, Senior Business Development Manager, UCLB; and Dr Anne Lane, Executive Director, UCLB.
The Stanmore Clinical Research Facility was opened by Donald Hoodless, OBE, Chairman of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital where the facility is based. Its specialist imaging system can detect when implants such as hip and knee replacements are loosening long before the patient starts to notice a deterioriation, enabling new implant designs to be evaluated quickly, and improved designs to be introduced into clinical practice. The facility is also equipped to measure bone mineral density and three dimensional structural parameters in bone in a non-invasive way.
UCL Business PLC funded the establishment of the facility, and the specialist imaging system was financed by Dr Jim Marshall, the designer of Marshall Amplifiers used by The Who and Jimi Hendrix, and featured in the seminal film ‘This Is Spinal Tap’.
Professor Martin Ferguson-Pell, Director of Research and Development at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, welcomed the opening of the facility: “The clinical research planned for this new facility will ensure that clinicians and patients have reliable information about the effectiveness of new orthopaedic treatments for the management of major healthcare challenges, such as osteoarthritis and osteoporosis.”
Celebrating the opening of the Stanmore Clinical Research Facility Mr Cengiz Tarhan, Managing Director of UCL Business PLC, said “The Stanmore Clinical Research Facility is the result of an ongoing relationship between UCL Business, UCL and their associated NHS Trusts. The unique combination of clinical and academic expertise in the field of musculoskeletal research that is available at Stanmore provides a world-class resource for pharmaceutical and medical device companies to fulfil their clinical research requirements.”
The Stanmore Clinical Research Facility is closely associated with the Institute of Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal Science at UCL, which is also based at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and undertakes world-renowned translational research in neuromusculoskeletal indications with clinicians at the hospital.
The facility is the latest to join the network of clinical trial facilities operated by UCL Business PLC in partnership with NHS Trusts in London offering state-of-the-art equipment for conducting specialist academic clinical research and commercial clinical trials.