Multimillion-pound contracts will turbo-charge clinical trials group revenues
Preston-based clinical trials group, Panthera, has signed two clinical trial contracts worth more than £10m each.
These trials for international pharma companies involve recruiting patients and running the clinical trials at its sites across the UK.
This continues a successful run for Panthera, which had a record-breaking year in 2024.
The most recent accounts filed at Companies House show the group achieved revenues of £11.308m in the year to December 31, 2023, up from £4.855m in 2022.
A pre-tax profit of £805,333 saw the business move into the black after recording a £5.629m pre-tax loss the previous year.
Panthera, founded in 2019, has developed a model that provides its clients – pharma and CROs (contract research organisation) – with rapid enrollment and large numbers of patients.
In the past two years, Panthera has been the top recruiter globally in four studies, the top recruiter in the UK on six other studies and has achieved first patient in globally or in the UK on nine studies.
Panthera works with 10 out of the top 12 pharma companies and seven of the top CROs and in 2024 became the first UK public or commercial clinical trial organisation to become part of Parexel’s Site Alliance Vaccine Network.
Despite a decline in NHS-registered clinical trial enrolments, independent SMOs (site management organisation) like Panthera are experiencing rapid growth.
With more than 50 dedicated trial sites across the UK, this sector continues to expand, providing crucial services to pharmaceutical companies and CROs.
Unlike NHS figures, the contributions of SMOs are not included in ABPI (Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry) or NHS statistics, underscoring the untapped potential of these organisations in driving clinical trial success.
The UK remains a top destination for clinical trials due to its dense and diverse population, high-calibre healthcare professionals, and recent regulatory advancements by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Changes to streamline regulatory reviews have enhanced the UK’s competitiveness against European countries while offering cost advantages over the US.
Panthera’s expanding UK network of dedicated clinical trial sites includes clinics in Manchester, Glasgow, York, Sheffield, Preston, Rochdale and Enfield, as well as plans to open sites in Sweden, and carries out trials in vaccines, cardiovascular, general medicine, diabetes, neurology, respiratory, dermatology and rheumatology and also specialist areas such as oncology, NASH and early dementia trials.
