Shaping the future of medicine

Research is vital to improving the care that we all receive when we're unwell. 

Guy’s and St Thomas’ is a leading centre for clinical research, with thousands of people taking part in trials and studies every year. 

Experts across the Trust are looking for new ways to diagnose and prevent illness, investigating new treatments and medicines and new medical devices and digital tools to benefit patients. 

For example, results of a clinical trial at Evelina London Children’s Hospital have shown that a new treatment called vosoritide helped increase the growth rate in children with achondroplasia by 50%. Achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism, is a condition caused by a gene variant which means that bone growth is significantly slower. It can lead to other health issues including sleep apnoea, curvature of the spine, ear infections, breathing problems and chronic pain, all of which can often require surgery to treat. 

Maisie Edwards, 4, has been receiving the drug as part of a clinical trial at Evelina London for the last 2 years. It involves a daily injection until she is 18. Her parents Michelle Christopher and Ian Edwards say joining the trial was “an easy decision to make”. 

Michelle said: “Maisie had a lot of health complications, including respiratory issues, a small ribcage and a spinal cord compression, so we wanted to do anything we could to help her.

Being part of this research gave us a lot of hope, and we’ve received so much support from the clinical team. I don’t know what we would have done without them, and Maisie loves coming here.

When Pauline Bassett developed myelofibrosis, a rare, slow-growing type of blood cancer, in 2012 she was transferred to the haematology team at Guy’s Hospital for specialist treatment.

Over the years she was given different medications but eventually they stopped working or were no longer suitable. 

At the end of last year she joined a Phase 1 clinical trial, which is the first time a new drug is tested in humans. The aim of the trial is to identify potential side effects, understand how the drug is processed by the body and to discover a safe dosage. 

Pauline, 79, said: “I was apprehensive at first but at the end of the day I didn’t have many other treatment choices so I thought ‘let’s give it a go’. 

It appears to be helping me now, but I don’t know how it’s going to affect me in the long run as it’s a new drug. It’s future patients down the line that will get the benefit of what I’m doing and all the data that is collected. 

Dr Kate Blake, Director of Research and Development at the Trust, said: “Our world leading researchers work to improve patient care and develop new and better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases. None of these life-saving treatments and diagnostic breakthroughs would be possible without our incredible patients who volunteer to join the trials.”

Fast Facts

• In 2025/2026, Guy’s and St Thomas’ recruited 24,755 people to 526 research studies 
• Nationally, the Trust recruits to the largest number of studies 
• Guy’s and St Thomas’ has dedicated clinical research facilities on 5 of its sites. These state-of-the-art, purpose built facilities specialise in delivering early phase, experimental medicine and high-risk studies 
• The Trust is a leading centre for research into advanced therapies, including cell and gene therapies. These personalised medical treatments make changes to a patient’s genes or cells with the aim to cure rather than just manage symptoms.

Achievements across the Trust

• In 2021, Evelina London Children’s Hospital was the first in the country to give gene therapy, Zolgensma, to a baby with type 1 Spinal Muscular Atrophy. The rare genetic condition affects the nerve cells that link the spinal cord to the muscles 
• At the Cancer Centre at Guy’s, there are teams dedicated to developing and trialling new cell therapies for people with cancer. This type of immunotherapy uses a patient’s own immune cells to treat their cancer 
• An obstetric research team developed a blood test that can very accurately diagnose women with pre-eclampsia so medication can be given quickly for the pregnancy-related condition, which causes high blood pressure. This has been so successful that it has been recommended as routine practice around the country 
• An international study led by Royal Brompton Hospital found that a new drug can significantly reduce persistent cough and improve quality of life for people with the lung condition, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.