The UCLH BRC’s Mental Health theme is working in partnership with North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT) on several commercial clinical trials to accelerate development of drugs to treat mental health conditions.
NLFT came into being in November 2024 as two mental health trusts – Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust and Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust – merged.
Professor Suzanne Reeves – who leads the BRC Mental Health in Neurodegeneration sub-theme – will be principal investigator on trials of two new treatments for psychosis in Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, NLFT is funding 50% of a consultant psychiatrist post to provide medical support to a number of industry trials and to act as principal investigator on a trial of a novel drug treatment for schizophrenia.
Professor Robert Howard, BRC Mental Health Theme Lead, said: “This collaboration between the NIHR UCLH BRC and the North London NHS Foundation Trust unlocks the potential of our population of patients and their families who are enthusiastic about involvement in clinical trials and the opportunity to benefit from access to new treatments, our expert clinicians and partnership between the BRC, UCL’s academic psychiatrists and the Trust.”
Lynis Lewis, Director of Research, North London Foundation Trust, said: “The strategic partnership between North London NHS Foundation Trust and UCLH BRC represents a unique opportunity to reshape mental health research. By combining the BRC’s research infrastructure and our clinical expertise, we’re breaking down traditional barriers and creating a powerful collaborative platform to accelerate research for our patients. This isn’t just about conducting trials – it’s about transforming mental health care.”
The NIHR Clinical Research Facility (CRF) at UCLH supports the delivery of such clinical trials by providing researchers with the infrastructure, such as clinical space and equipment, necessary to deliver high-quality research. Without this infrastructure these clinical trials would not take place.
Carlito Adan, Deputy Lead Nurse at the CRF, said: “The CRF provides nursing and clinical expertise and support in conducting trial protocols and performing study procedures and activities, which includes laboratory support to process, store and ship samples. The CRF also has a trial oversight function, ensuring studies are run in compliance with all quality and best practice standards, ensuring a high level of patient care and safety.”
Prof Rimona Weil, the PI of the TOPHAT study (Trial of Ondansetron as a Parkinson’s HAllucinations Treatment) conducted at the CRF explained that the trial is testing whether an existing anti-sickness drug, called ondansetron, is effective and safe for treating hallucinations in Parkinson’s and Lewy body dementia. Through working with the BRC and UCLH, the study team have been able to recruit people with these distressing hallucinations to test whether this treatment is effective for them.
Prof Weil said: “The CRF staff and facility has been supportive at every stage and have enabled the delivery of this clinical trial, from organising the set-up of the trial, to screening patients identified in clinic, to arranging and conducting the visits, and supporting oversight of the trial management at our site.”
Dr Nick McNally, Managing Director of Research at UCLH/UCL, said: “We’re excited about this clinical trials partnership between the UCLH Clinical Research Facility and North London NHS Foundation Trust. Underpinning the partnership is the strong mental health theme of our UCLH Biomedical Research Centre and the exciting collaborative links that Rob Howard and colleagues have established with research teams in our BRC translational neurology theme.
“Making available the expertise we have in the delivery of complex trials and the excellent facilities we have in our NIHR CRF means that we are now able to offer patients with challenging mental health issues access to clinical trials in a way that just hasn’t been possible previously.”
