Sir John McMichael Centre
PP1420 - First time in human
Researchers at the McMichael centre may render personal trainers redundant with a new drug for appetite regulation. PP1420 mimics pancreatic polypeptide (PP), a hormone produced naturally in our pancreas after every meal, making us feel full. After pre-clinical testing on rats, the team, led by Dr Trisha Tan, under Principal Investigator Professor Steve Bloom, is giving the drug to humans for the first time.
Become a Healthy Volunteer!
If you are interested in taking part in clinical research please complete a copy of our volunteer heath questionnaire and return it to us by post, using the address on the form, or in person.
Set up in 2001, the Sir John McMichael Centre (SJMC) comprises two 5-day wards embedded in the Hammersmith Hospital. It can accommodate 15 patients and includes a level 2 gene therapy suite and equipment for physiological and metabolic studies. Of the two wards, one provides 24 hour care five days a week and the other is suitable for day case and outpatient studies with investigation rooms. Both wards have laboratories with centrifuges, ice machines, fridges and -20 and -80 freezers for processing and storage of research samples.
The centre is staffed with experienced medical teams, including chemotherapy-trained nurses and study team personnel fully trained in GCP, research governance and regulatory affairs. Overall, the centre is dedicated to clinical research and specialises in early phase clinical trials from “First Time in Humans” (FTIH) through to “Proof of Concept” (PoC) studies across a range of disciplines, including translational and experimental medicine, clinical pharmacology, neuroscience, psychiatry, oncology, rheumatology and metabolic, cardiovascular and respiratory medicine.
In recent years, SJMC has progressively increased the capability to conduct early Phase-I clinical trials in healthy volunteers, including FTIH studies, and a number of collaborations/partnerships have been established with various pharmaceutical companies to accelerate the identification and testing of novel putative therapies. Location within the Hammersmith Hospital enables SJMC unrivaled access to volunteers across all age ranges, as well as immediate admission to ICU and interaction with consultants across a broad range of therapeutic areas. This, coupled with an experienced and fully trained in-house clinical team, ensure the successful set up of safe drug administration, advanced sampling and highly efficient monitoring/management of emerging clinical abnormalities and/or adverse reactions to the study drugs.
Strong working relationships are also established between SJMC and the central Pharmacy at Hammersmith Hospital enabling a combination of commercial and non-commercial studies to be conducted at any one time. Likewise, the centre has also access to state-of-the-art imaging and pathology support from Imperial College and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, including the considerable expertise in clinical biochemistry, peptide hormone assays, proteomics, genetics and genomics, as well as the extensive infrastructure in clinical imaging.
SJMC is part of the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Network. A new and larger Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility is in advanced planning and due for occupation in December 2011.
