Regulatory reforms have made the UK a more attractive location to test candidate cancer medicines with efforts to reduce approval times being a key driver.
This is according to new research, which examined cancer trials conducted in the UK since 2000 and concluded that regulatory changes over the period have had a positive impact.
“From 2000 to 2025, the UK clinical trials setting has evolved into a system that has adapted to global research demands. While transitional challenges emerged in the past decade, the UK has transformed toward a modernized, risk-proportionate, and globally applicable regulatory model,” the authors wrote.
In particular, the authors cited efforts to accelerate clinical trial approvals as a success, explaining, “Trial approval speed has improved from 118.9 days in July 2023 to 29 days in October 2025.”
The authors also highlighted the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) decision to allow sponsors to seek approval online—through the IRAS system, introduced in 2022—as a positive move.
They wrote, “To improve the submission process, MHRA has implemented a new national portal for electronic clinical trial submissions. … The update included a combined review—regulatory and ethics—available for new clinical trials of investigational medicinal products.”
Public investment
The authors also pointed to initiatives like the research delivery network (RDN)—which is designed to provide the infrastructure necessary to conduct non-commercial clinical research within the National Health Service—as growth drivers.
“The UK trials infrastructure is supported by significant investment of public finds through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), which, among other benefits, helps to foster collaboration between investigators based in hospitals and in general practice.
“The RDN and CRDCs from April 2025 are now central to commercial trial delivery across the UK. These structures enhance site identification and recruitment capabilities for both early- and late-phase trials, supporting faster trial startup, workforce training, and real-time site performance monitoring across the UK,” they wrote.
Decline in Phase I trials
One less positive finding was a decline in early-phase cancer drug trials.
According to the authors, “The modest decline observed in Phase 1 trial numbers during the 2020–2025 period may reflect increased global competition for early‑phase studies rather than necessarily indicating a loss of domestic early‑phase capability.
“Similar dynamics have been observed across EU countries, where changes in phase I trial activity have reflected global competition and sponsor site‑selection decisions rather than definitive reductions in domestic early‑phase capability,” they wrote.