£4 million funding scheme for developing country ethics announced by Wellcome Trust

This week the Wellcome Trust launches a £4 million funding scheme for the ethics of biomedical research in developing countries, part of its 5-year £15 million biomedical ethics programme, the largest scheme of its type in the UK.

The scheme will be officially launched at the 6th World Congress of the International Association of Bioethics in Brasilia, Brazil, on October 31, when Professor Michael Bennish, Head of the Wellcome Trust's Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies in South Africa, and Dr Sassy Molyneux from the Trust's Kenya Unit will discuss key issues affecting research and clinical practice in developing countries (abstracts available on request).

Research in developing countries, particularly when funded by more affluent countries, raises difficult ethical questions for participants, communities, researchers and research funders. The developing countries initiative aims to help address these questions by:

• Supporting research into social, ethical, legal and public policy issues of biomedical science in developing countries
• Building expertise to enable ethical issues to be addressed within developing countries
• Making the findings of the research useful for policy makers and practitioners

To achieve these aims, the scheme will support Project Grants, Research Studentships, seminars and other capacity-building initiatives. Collaborative work, applications from multidisciplinary research teams and novel forms of interdisciplinary research are particularly encouraged.

The majority of the research will take place in developing country locations, where clinical or community-oriented biomedical research is being done. Applicants from developing countries can apply for support in all areas; applicants from the UK can apply for project grants and support for seminars; and coapplicants on grants may come from any country except North America.

Dr Mike Dexter, Director of the Wellcome Trust said: "Ethical issues are now part and parcel of translating scientific research into medical benefits. Last year we spent more than £70m on our international programmes, which play a major role in fighting scourges of the developing world, such as malaria and HIV/AIDS. We want to attract the best minds from diverse disciplines to this new ethics funding scheme. New thinking will ultimately inform research funding policy, as well as national and international guidelines, and ensure that the research we and others fund in these countries adheres to best ethical practice."

Anthony Tomei, Director of the Nuffield Foundation and Chair of the Trust's Biomedical ethics panel said: "The Nuffield Council report published earlier this year highlighted the complex issues surrounding research ethics in developing countries. We welcome the Trust's initiative in launching a scheme to address these issues and encourage those who want to make a difference to apply."

Ethical or unethical? Image of Patrick Manson (1844-1922) investigating the transmission of filariasis in Amoy, China, c. 1875. Oil painting by Ernest Board (Worcester 1877-1934) was commissioned by Sir Henry Wellcome c. 1912.

Patrick Manson persuaded his gardener, Hinlo, who was infected with a parasitic worm Wuchereria bancrofti, to fed on by wild-caught mosquitos. By dissecting the mosquitoes, Manson discovered the embryonic form of W. bancrofti, proving for the first time the involvement of the mosquito in the life-cycle of a parasite. Infection with the parasite causes lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis), a disabling, disfiguring condition.

Notes to Editors:

• Abstracts of talks by Michael Bennish and Sassy Molyneux are available on request.
• The Wellcome Trust's Biomedical Ethics programme was established in 1997. Its aim is to support research into the ethical, legal and social and public policy aspects of developments in biomedical science.
• The Trust has funded international research across a broad spectrum - from clinical trials to demographic surveillance - for more than 50 years. All of this work goes before local ethical review committees and must be beneficial to the people of the country in which the research is being carried out.
• The Trust currently supports major clinical or community-based research programmes in Kenya, Thailand, Vietnam, South Africa and Malawi. Last year it spent more than £70m on its international programmes which support individual researchers in more than 40 countries.
• The Wellcome Trust is an independent, research-funding charity, established under the will of Sir Henry Wellcome in 1936. The Trust's mission is to foster and promote research with the aim of improving human and animal health. For more information, visit www.wellcome.ac.uk/
• The Nuffield Council Report, The Ethics Of Research Related To Healthcare In Developing Countries, is available at: www.nuffieldbioethics.org/developingcountries/

Media contact:
Shaun Griffin
Wellcome Trust Media Office
t: +44 (0)20 7611 8612 / 8866
m: 07710 307059
e: s.griffin@wellcome.ac.uk