Civia Health Launches Sunderland Site to Tackle UK Recruitment Bottlenecks in Chronic Trials

Sunderland, UK – 20 February 2026 – Civia Health launched its flagship clinical research site in Sunderland on the 19^th February 2026, expanding sponsor-ready capacity for high-prevalence chronic disease trials across the UK. Purpose-built for cardiometabolic and other chronic conditions, the site is designed to address persistent challenges in UK clinical research: slow enrolment, limited hospital research capacity, and long-term participant retention in chronic disease studies.

The Sunderland facility forms part of Civia Health’s emerging clinical site network focused on scalable infrastructure for type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular risk, inflammatory bowel disease and vaccine studies.

“Chronic disease trials require more than recruitment campaigns. They require continuity,” said Mark Campbell, CEO of Civia Health. “We have built infrastructure specifically for high-prevalence conditions that demand sustained participant engagement, operational predictability, and scalable enrolment.”

Built to Reduce Sponsor Friction

The UK remains a globally respected research environment but faces well-documented pressures, including NHS site capacity constraints and variable recruitment performance in high-enrolment chronic disease studies.

Civia Health’s model is designed to complement hospital-based research by embedding sponsor-grade infrastructure within accessible community locations. This approach aims to:

• Accelerate time to first patient in
• Improve enrolment velocity in high-prevalence indications
• Improve long-term retention in cardiometabolic trials
• Enhance diversity and representativeness in study populations

The Sunderland site integrates digital tools and AI-enabled operational workflows to support participant identification, scheduling, follow-up, and data integrity reducing administrative burden while maintaining regulatory and GCP compliance.

Focused on High-Prevalence, High-Complexity Conditions

Cardiometabolic and metabolic diseases represent some of the largest and most operationally demanding therapeutic areas in clinical research. These trials require:

• Large sample sizes
• Longitudinal follow-up
• High visit frequency
• Strong behavioural adherence

Civia Health’s infrastructure has been designed specifically for these realities, with facilities, staffing models, and participant engagement systems built for continuity rather than short-term recruitment surges.

By embedding research capability within community-facing settings, the Sunderland site aims to access real-world populations who are often underrepresented in hospital-centric recruitment models.

Strengthening UK Trial Delivery Capacity

The launch reflects growing recognition that the UK must diversify and modernise its site infrastructure to remain competitive in global clinical development.

Civia Health’s network model seeks to create standardised, digitally-enabled research environments capable of supporting multi-site chronic disease programmes at scale.

“Sponsors need predictability, scalability, and retention, particularly in chronic ambulatory trials,” added Campbell. “By extending our global network into Sunderland, we are scaling a proven, purpose-built model for chronic ambulatory trials, delivering the consistency, capacity and continuity sponsors require.”

About Civia Health

Civia Health is a clinical site network focused on chronic conditions. By combining community-based accessibility with AI-enabled operational infrastructure, Civia delivers scalable enrolment, sustained participant engagement, and sponsor-ready research environments across high-prevalence disease areas.