The NIHR Commercial Research Delivery Centres (CRDCs) form part of an exciting new national infrastructure established by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) in April 2025 to boost the speed, efficiency and accessibility of commercial clinical research delivery across the UK.

The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was successful in securing funding to host the NIHR CRDC Newcastle, based at the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI). The CRDC is led by Dr Ashley Price, director for the centre and infectious diseases consultant at the RVI.

In January 2026, the NIHR Newcastle CRDC was added to the Diagnostics North East Directory of Service – showcasing its key role in supporting translational research, and diagnostic development.

Here, Dr Ashley Price tells us more:

Tell us about the NIHR Commercial Research Delivery Centre (CRDC) Newcastle?

I am delighted that Newcastle Hospitals has been awarded funding to host the CRDC for the next seven years.

Our core purpose is to help industry partners deliver commercially sponsored clinical research – especially later-phase clinical trials by providing dedicated staff, facilities, and expertise.

Our aim is to give more people access to the latest clinical trials and treatments and reach people in the community who otherwise might not consider taking part in research.

How will you do this?

It’s our plan to work to support a network of researchers in hospitals and GP practices across the region, delivering trials for a range of health conditions.

This is a fantastic opportunity for us to follow on from the successful NIHR Patient Recruitment Centre, to create opportunities to test new treatments with the latest equipment and technology across the region.

It will also support the rapid set-up of commercial studies so patients can begin accessing treatments undergoing trials as early as possible.

Key functions of CRDC Newcastle include:

• Supporting commercial sponsors (pharma, biotech, MedTech) to set up and run clinical trials efficiently via dedicated commercial trial delivery teams.
• Supporting participant recruitment and retention support.
• Providing feasibility assessment, site selection, recruitment, trial delivery, and performance support.
• Acting as a regional hub, connecting with regional and primary care sites, and more broadly to a wider network of trial sites, standardised processes, and industry links.
• Enabling the region to attract and deliver more commercial research that responds to local health needs.

Do you have main areas of research?

Yes. Our main therapy areas have been aligned to the needs of the North East population, including (but not limited to):

• Cardiovascular diseases
• Respiratory diseases
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Gastroenterology
• Medtech

How can you support diagnostic developers?

Newcastle already has rich infrastructure and expertise to support diagnostic development.  We see the CRDC as a complementary service within our regional ecosystem to support innovation, evaluation and commercialisation.

Our focus is on clinical trial delivery—particularly commercially sponsored studies that generate evidence about safety, performance, effectiveness and real-world utility of interventions (including diagnostics when they require clinical evaluation as trials).

In doing so, we hope to help industry partners progress innovations, through trial delivery, recruitment infrastructure, which can in turn, be supported by other DxNE teams to evaluate results, inform care-pathways, and lead to the ultimate adoption of innovations.

How can I find out more?

You can find out more about the CRDC Newcastle on the trust’s website. You can also email us on nuth.crdcnewcastle@nhs.net and follow us on LinkedIn.