AN Oxford-based research centre hoping to speed up the development of arthritis drugs has been given a £225,000 boost.

Arthritis Research UK has pledged the money over the next three years to the Oxford University Experimental Arthritis Treatment Centre.

The team plans to investigate new ways of testing the effectiveness of drugs early in development, using modern imaging technology. Some projects will be taking place at the John Radcliffe Hospital.

The aim of the centre is to identify drugs with the biggest benefit early on in testing, so that only the most effective ones progress into large trials.

Professor of musculo-skeletal sciences Peter Taylor said: “In recent years we’ve made great strides in identifying potential molecular targets to treat arthritis. But the time it takes to get a new drug from the laboratory to the patient can be more than 15 years.

“What’s worse, more than half of all studies fail at the final phase of clinical trials, so a lot of money is wasted.”

Mr Taylor said when a new drug is first tested in a small number of patients the measurements that are used to assess whether it is working or not are not very reliable.

To counter this, the team plans to carry out early experimental studies on patients with different types of arthritis, including rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.

Medical director of Arthritis Research UK Professor Alan Silman said: “Our new experimental arthritis treatment centres will provide the resources to study patients in the key first-stage studies.”