Bold move: expanding trial participation through local pharmacies to reach underserved communities. The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) and the Centre for Research Equity (CfRE) at the University of Oxford have announced a collaborative effort to leverage the NPA’s nationwide network of around 6,000 member pharmacies to broaden participant diversity in clinical trials.
In the Community pharmacy manifesto released on December 3, 2025, the organizations emphasize a focus on engaging people from deprived communities and minority ethnic groups. The document states the goal to ensure proper representation in trials and to help reduce health inequalities while improving health outcomes for everyone.
The manifesto outlines plans to establish a network of research sites inside community pharmacies across the UK. This network will support inclusive patient and public involvement and participation in research, with an aim to gather robust evidence on the benefits of community-based recruitment and trial/study design. It also seeks to expand the evidence base on the determinants of health and social care inequalities and to propose methods and study designs that improve outcomes for all.
By enabling community pharmacies to participate in clinical trials and practice research, the partnership expects to provide guidance during trial development and delivery that addresses equity considerations and offers practical solutions.
Structured training programs will be part of the initiative, including workshops, toolkits, and guidance. The manifesto also notes that the collaboration will share experiences and lessons from work that has previously overcome barriers to achieving equity in health and social care.
Mahendra Patel, director of CfRE, highlighted that participants from underserved communities are often under-represented in clinical research. He described community pharmacies as a valuable local health resource and suggested that engaging them as recruitment channels can help ensure research more accurately reflects society’s diversity and remains inclusive.
Sukhi Basra, vice chair of the NPA, added that participation by NPA members would support safe and effective healthcare practice across the UK and beyond. While GP practices already recruit patients into trials, he believes the community pharmacy network can add meaningful value to research efforts and may offer a financially viable diversification opportunity for pharmacies that need it.
This initiative aligns with a June 2025 study from the University of Liverpool, Manchester Metropolitan University, and University College London, which found that patients and healthcare professionals want traditionally excluded groups—such as older adults, women, ethnic minorities, and children—integrated into trial design and recruitment.
Last updated: December 3, 2025, 15:58.
Source: The Pharmaceutical Journal, PJ December 2025, Vol 317, No 8004; DOI: 10.1211/PJ.2025.1.388866
