Why the Caribbean
The region your cardiometabolic protocol has been waiting for
High disease burden. Largely treatment-naive populations. The diversity regulators now expect. Retention built into island geography. And one network to reach it all — across the English, Spanish, French and Dutch-speaking Caribbean.
- 47.3%
- of adults in The Bahamas live with obesity
- 28.1%
- adult diabetes prevalence in Trinidad & Tobago
- 67.5%
- of adults in the Americas are overweight or obese
- 35.4%
- of adults aged 30–79 in the Americas live with hypertension
Figures from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), NCDs at a Glance 2025 — see Sources at the bottom of this page.
Five reasons sponsors run studies here
Not marketing gloss — the structural facts of the region, and what they mean for your enrolment curve.
The disease burden your protocol is written for
Obesity, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension are the Caribbean's dominant clinical reality — PAHO reports 47.3% adult obesity in The Bahamas, 28.1% adult diabetes prevalence in Trinidad & Tobago, and across the Americas 67.5% of adults overweight or obese and 35.4% of adults aged 30–79 living with hypertension. Sites here see the patients your cardiometabolic protocol describes every single clinic day.
Research-naive populations, low competing-trial density
Most Caribbean patients have never been approached about a clinical trial, and few sites juggle competing studies for the same population. That means cleaner recruitment funnels, less protocol fatigue, and participants who aren't professional trial-joiners.
A closing window on treatment-naive metabolic cohorts
GLP-1 receptor agonists and other anti-obesity medications are reshaping metabolic trial design, but commercial availability and uptake across most of the Caribbean remain limited (IQVIA, March 2025) — and the WHO's December 2025 guideline on GLP-1 therapies underlines how recently these medicines have begun reaching lower- and middle-income settings. For sponsors who need genuinely treatment-naive or low-background-therapy cohorts, that window is open now — and it will not stay open.
The diversity your regulators are asking about
Sponsors are now expected to plan for representative enrolment — including diversity action plans for pivotal trials in the US. Caribbean populations of African, South Asian, European, Indigenous and mixed ancestry can help deliver enrolment that reflects the patients who will actually use your product, in the disease areas where under-representation matters most.
Retention built into the geography
Care on most islands runs through a small number of hospitals, polyclinics and family practices — patients stay with the same providers for years, and there is nowhere for follow-up to leak away to. Concentrated care pathways plus strong patient-clinician relationships translate into the retention numbers decentralised mega-networks struggle to match.
Where we focus
What we qualify sites for
No site enters the network, and no site is put forward for your study, without being assessed against the standards below. If a site needs equipment, we source and rent it per study; if staff need training, we provide it before a protocol arrives — so what you see at feasibility is what you get at initiation.
- ICH-GCP training current for all research staff
- Principal Investigator oversight and delegation discipline
- Source documentation and record-keeping to sponsor audit standard
- Investigational product storage with temperature monitoring
- Sample handling, processing and shipping logistics
- Reliable connectivity and EDC readiness
- Recruitment capacity verified against real patient records at feasibility
- Backup-site planning as the network grows
The people behind the numbers
Caribbean healthcare runs on clinicians who know their patients by name — physicians, nurses, pharmacists and allied health professionals trained across the region, the UK, North America and Europe, many of whom returned home to practise. Their patients trust them, stay with them, and listen when they recommend taking part in research.
The region's communities — of African, South Asian, European, Indigenous and mixed ancestry, across four language groups — bring the genetic and cultural diversity that global evidence has historically lacked. Research done here is research that generalises.
And because PCRA Caribbean handles contracting, training and coordination centrally, those clinicians spend their time where it counts: with participants.
One group. Three regions. The same playbook.
PCRA Caribbean is part of the PCRA Group, backed by PCRA UK — so the governance standards, feasibility honesty and delivery model behind your Caribbean study are the ones already proven at scale in the UK.
PCRA UK
The PCRA Group's founding network — the UK's largest independent primary care research network, with ~180 practices and 8M+ registered patients (UK network figures).
PCRA USA
The Group's US sister network, bringing the same model to American community primary care.
PCRA Caribbean
One front door to research sites across 30+ Caribbean countries and territories — hospitals, polyclinics, family practices, specialist clinics, pharmacies, labs and dedicated research units.
UK figures relate to PCRA UK only. Each network in the PCRA Group runs separately, on its own systems, with its own membership — their figures are never combined.
A regional pathway that is more navigable than it looks
The Caribbean Regulatory System (CRS), hosted by the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), provides a regional mechanism for medicines review and recommendation for CARICOM member states — reducing duplicated effort across small national authorities. Regional pharmacovigilance runs through VigiCarib, CARPHA's safety-reporting programme.
Clinical trial authorisations remain national: each participating country or territory grants its own approval, alongside national ethics review where a committee exists, and CARPHA's Research Ethics Committee is available for multi-country studies and for territories without their own committee. PCRA Caribbean maps the exact approvals your study needs, country by country, as part of feasibility — so the pathway is laid out before you commit.
US territories in the region (Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands) operate under FDA jurisdiction, and the French and Dutch territories under their European frameworks — useful options where your regulatory strategy calls for them.
PCRA Caribbean is an independent network and is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, CARPHA or CARICOM.
Your delivery partner on the ground
We are not a CRO and we don't compete with you. We are the site network and local infrastructure that makes your Caribbean delivery work — whether you bring us one study or a regional programme.
- One agreement covering site identification, contracting and payments across multiple countries and territories
- Local site intelligence — honest capability and capacity answers before you commit a protocol
- Support navigating national trial authorisations and regional ethics review for multi-country studies
- Site-facing coordination that keeps your CRAs' monitoring visits productive
- Our site support services (prescreening, helplines) available as bolt-ons for your own sites too
Send us your synopsis.
Share a protocol synopsis under CDA and we'll come back with an honest feasibility read: which countries and site types fit, what the regulatory pathway looks like, and whether we believe we can deliver — and if we don't, we'll tell you that too.
Start the conversationSources
- Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), NCDs at a Glance 2025 — obesity, diabetes, overweight and hypertension prevalence figures cited on this page.
- International Diabetes Federation, IDF Diabetes Atlas.
- IQVIA, regional market analysis, March 2025 — GLP-1 / anti-obesity medication availability in the Caribbean.
- World Health Organization, guideline on GLP-1 therapies, December 2025.
- Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) — Caribbean Regulatory System and VigiCarib: carpha.org.