At the heart of Oxford Health’s research efforts, the Business Development Team (BDT) is redefining how academic excellence translates into real-world impact.
The BDT fosters innovation and ensures that research rapidly advances towards implementation in patient care by developing partnerships between academia, the NHS, and industry.
The BDT’s remit spans the Oxford-based National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centres and the NIHR Mental Health Translational Research Collaboration (MH-TRC) Mission.
The BDT has a unique position as NHS-employed members of the wider Business Partnerships Office, and this enables them to act as a bridge between the NHS, Oxford’s research landscape, and commercial stakeholders. The team is now building on their expertise and impact by expanding into non-pharma sectors, particularly digital health, bringing in sector-specific expertise to ensure Oxford Health remains at the forefront of innovation.
Reflecting on their approach, Senior Business Development Manager Paul Whyte said:
“Our objective is to cultivate a network with industry partners. Through consistent engagement, whether via collaborative research, strategic dialogue, or shared initiatives, we aim to foster relationships that evolve into meaningful partnerships. These interactions are not incidental; they are the foundation upon which impactful collaborations are built, enabling us to translate academic excellence into real-world innovation.”
Streamlining study set-up/contracting
While the BDT focuses on building and sustaining industry relationships to support the set-up of clinical studies, it is also essential that study set ups are quicker and more streamlined, in line with new government regulations in the UK supporting its target to reduce the time from study application to first participant recruitment from 250 to 150 days.
Nnenna Omeje is the Contracts and Governance Lead for the NIHR MH-TRC Mission and Acting Head of Research and Innovation at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. Nnenna’s work has been instrumental in transforming the operational landscape of research delivery, for example introducing a multi-site single sign-off process for Confidentiality Disclosure Agreements (CDAs) – this offers a UK-wide process, which allows many NHS sites to respond to study feasibility requests. Until now, study leads and companies had to negotiate separate CDAs with each individual study site, a complex time intensive process, which could delay the start of research studies.
The single CDA has significantly reduced time required for this part of the contracting process and has enabled more effective information sharing.
Nnenna told us “By simplifying the CDA process, we have removed a major barrier and made it easier for commercial research to get started in the UK. Our approach demonstrates that, with the right systems in place, we can deliver research more efficiently and attract global partners to collaborate with us.
“This improvement is particularly timely, as NHS England has set ambitious targets for clinical trial set-up time, aiming for sites to be ready within 150 days of submission.
“Oxford Health BRC and the MH-TRC demonstrate our readiness to meet and exceed these expectations, strengthening the UK’s position as a preferred location for commercial research.”
Why the UK stands out for commercial research
The UK is an attractive location for commercial healthcare research due to its NHS infrastructure, strong public support for research, and globally respected regulatory environment.
A collaborative culture between academia, industry, and the NHS accelerates innovation, while robust public investment ensures high-quality data and infrastructure. Combined, these factors enable study set-up, diverse patient recruitment, and reliable delivery, ensuring that people within the UK have access to the most innovative new treatments.
Driving research forward in the UK
Through the combined efforts of Oxford Health’s Business Development Team and Contracts and Governance Lead, and support from the NIHR MH-TRC Mission, the Trust is delivering meaningful change in the UK’s research landscape. Oxford Health is streamlining processes and strengthening industry partnerships, and through this is unlocking faster, more efficient clinical trials. We are helping position the UK as a global leader in commercial research and healthcare innovation.
Professor Rachel Upthegrove MBE, Chair of NIHR MH-TRC said: “Strengthening commercial partnerships in mental health research is key to improving patient choice of treatments, outcomes, innovation and growth. We can bring effective treatment choices to patients faster by working collaboratively across sectors and reinforce the UK’s position as a global leader in mental health research.”
This is the second in our 3 part web story series. Read part 1 on our website: Building better research through public involvement
