Warwick awarded £1 million by Wolfson for new Clinical Trials Unit

The University of Warwick has been awarded £1 million by the Wolfson Foundation towards the cost of building a new Clinical Trials Building for Warwick Medical School. The new facility will be a custom-built home for the Clinical Trials Unit and it is expected to be completed in late 2008.

The Unit has grown dramatically since it was established in 2005 at the Warwick Medical School campus on Gibbet Hill. A number of international professorial research leaders have been appointed and the Unit has been awarded more than £5 million in grants for clinical trials in cancer, musculo-skeletal and emergency care. The Unit is co-ordinating the ‘PERSEPHONE’ herceptin duration trial, comparing the effectiveness of the drug over 12 months compared to 6 months in early breast cancer, and investigating new scanning methods in the treatment of head and neck cancer. In addition, new trials have been funded to examine the use of treatments in intensive care, and in exercise to prevent depression in nursing home residents. Trials that have been completed include studies of back pain, severe ankle injuries and whiplash.

Professor Yvonne Carter, Dean of Warwick Medical School, said the Wolfson grant was a real achievement for the School. She said: “We are delighted at receiving a £1 million Wolfson grant, we believe that this generous donation from the Wolfson Foundation recognises the huge potential to build on our success to date. The Clinical Trials Unit has successfully established itself as a leading research team in the School. Additional space is needed to help realise our vision for a large, specialist trials centre which co-ordinates trials from conception through to completion.”

In addition The Wolfson Foundation has also awarded £250,000 to the University of Warwick’s main campus library. The money will be used to create a Research Exchange, which will be a flexible and technology-rich study and collaborative space for postgraduate research students and researchers.