£84 MILLION OF NEW FUNDING TO BOOST CENTRES FOR EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE
5 July 2006
A consortium of research funders led by the Wellcome Trust today announced funding of £84 million to boost experimental medicine in the UK and Ireland, with the ultimate aim of improving health care for patients. This major investment will develop and strengthen Clinical Research Facilities, which bring together laboratory and clinical patient-based research in order to answer important questions about health and disease.
Under the umbrella of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC) this initiative has brought together the major health-related charities, the government funding bodies and health departments. It includes the Wellcome Trust, British Heart Foundation (BHF), Cancer Research UK, the Wolfson Foundation, the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Health Departments in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and the Health Research Board of Ireland.
In a competitive process managed by the Wellcome Trust, the funding partners are collectively providing £84m of new funding to develop and strengthen Clinical Research Facilities around the UK: Belfast, Birmingham, Cambridge, Edinburgh, The Institute of Cancer Research, Imperial College London, King's College London, Manchester, Newcastle, Oxford and University College London. Further to this, another facility jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Health Research Board of Ireland will be established in Dublin. These new facilities build on the success of the five Clinical Research Facilities launched in 1997 (Birmingham, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Manchester and Southampton).
The consortium of funders is working in partnership to fund various elements of the new infrastructure. The Wellcome Trust and the Wolfson Foundation are collaboratively providing up to £30m for the development of new technologies in experimental medicine and Clinical Research Facilities. The MRC is contributing up to £8m primarily to fund a number of new 3T whole body MRI scanners. The BHF is contributing £5m and Cancer Research UK is contributing £3m. In addition to contributing £5m each year to support additional NHS infrastructure associated with the increased research activity funded through this initiative, the Department of Health in England is also contributing towards the costs of developing experimental medicine facilities. The Health Departments in Scotland and Northern Ireland are contributing up to £0.8m and £0.2m per annum respectively to boost the NHS infrastructure to support the anticipated increased level of research. The Health Research Board of Ireland is investing approximately £8m.
Dr Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust, said: "Working with patients is essential to improve diagnosis and develop new treatments. Clinical Research Facilities provide an ideal environment for patient-based research. This important collaboration between the major UK funders of biomedical research will help make the UK a world leader in clinical research."
This initiative is part of a broader approach by UKCRC partners to boost experimental medicine in the UK. This has included joint £35m investment by Cancer Research UK and the UK Health Departments to fund a network of experimental cancer medicine centres and a programme of funding for experimental medicine research recently launched by the MRC.
Health Minister Andy Burnham welcomed today's announcement: "This important investment in experimental medicine demonstrates the commitment of the Government and key partners to work together to establish the UK as a world leader in clinical research. The NHS plays a vital role in translating medical advances from the laboratory bench to the patient's bedside. This initiative is an essential step that will ultimately lead to improving the care we offer patients and the public."
Professor Sally Davies, Chair of the UKCRC and Director of Research and Development at the Department of Health, stressed the value of a coordinated approach: "The degree to which the funding partners have worked together to develop this initiative has been exemplary. Further progress to advance clinical research in the UK can now be achieved as a result of this initiative to increase the country's capacity for experimental medicine."
Professor Edward Holmes, Vice Chancellor of Health Sciences at the University of California and Chair of the Wellcome Trust Scientific Advisory Committee for Experimental Medicine, commented on the initiative: "There is something really interesting and exciting happening in clinical research in the UK at the moment. The degree to which different organisations have worked together on this important initiative is unique. It is a great example of one of a number of complex longstanding issues for clinical research that have been tackled over the last couple of years by UK organisations working in partnership."
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Notes to editors
1. Experimental medicine is defined as investigation undertaken in human beings to identify mechanisms of pathophysiology or disease, to test the validity and importance of new discoveries or treatments.
2. A Clinical Research Facility provides state-of-the-art facilities for investigators undertaking clinical research. A typical facility provides a mixture of day rooms and bedded areas together with access to specialised research equipment and the associated highly trained clinical, laboratory and technical support that is need to underpin complex research studies.
3. The Wellcome Trust is the most diverse biomedical research charity in the world, spending about £450 million every year both in the UK and internationally to support and promote research that will improve the health of humans and animals. The Trust was established under the will of Sir Henry Wellcome, and is funded from a private endowment, which is managed with long-term stability and growth in mind.
4. This initiative is part of a broad area of work to build up the infrastructure for clinical research in the NHS, coordinated by the UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC). The UKCRC is a partnership of organisations working together to establish the UK as a world leader in clinical research, by harnessing the power of the NHS. The Collaboration brings together the major stakeholders that influence the clinical research environment in the UK including the main funding bodies, academia, the NHS, regulators, industry and patients.
In addition to the work on experimental medicine, the partnership has had a number of key achievements over the first 20 months of operation including:
- establishment of a UK Clinical Research Network
- development and implementation of a new training and career structure for clinical academics
- first ever national portfolio analysis of health research in the UK.
5. The Wolfson Foundation is a charitable foundation set up in 1955. Its aims were stated by the Founder Trustees to be the advancement of science and medicine, health, education, the arts and humanities. These remain the aims of the Trustees today. The annual income available for grants is approximately £37m.
6. The Medical Research Council (MRC) is a national organisation funded by the UK taxpayer. Its business is medical research aimed at improving human health - everyone stands to benefit from the outputs. The research it supports and the scientists it trains meet the needs of the health services, the pharmaceutical and other health-related industries and the academic world. The MRC has funded work that has led to some of the most significant discoveries and achievements in medicine in the UK. About half of the MRC's expenditure of £500m is invested in its 40 Institutes, Units and Centres. The remaining half goes in the form of grant support and training awards to individuals and teams in universities and medical schools.
7. The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is leading the battle against heart and circulatory disease - the UK's biggest killer. The charity is a major funder and authority in cardiovascular research. It plays an important role in funding education, both of the public and of health professionals, and in providing life-saving cardiac equipment and support for rehabilitation and care.
8. Cancer Research UK – together with its partners and supporters, Cancer Research UK's vision is to beat cancer. It carries out world-class research to improve understanding of the disease and find out how to prevent, diagnose and treat different kinds of cancer.
Cancer Research UK ensures that its findings are used to improve the lives of all cancer patients. It helps people to understand cancer, the progress that is being made and the choices each person can make.
Cancer Research UK works in partnership with others to achieve the greatest impact in the global fight against cancer.
For further information about Cancer Research UK's work, or to find out how to support the charity, please call +44 (0)20 7009 8820 or visit the Cancer Research UK website.
9. The Health Research Board of Ireland (HRB) underpins an emerging research and development culture throughout our health services and universities. The HRB funds research to improve health, combat disease, reduce disability and enhance the quality and equity of healthcare in Ireland.
10. The Chief Scientist Office is the division of the Scottish Executive Health Department that supports and promotes high-quality research aimed at improving the services offered by NHS Scotland and the health of the people of Scotland.
11. The Department of Health's budget for health research for 2006-07 is £753m. Of this, £50m is allocated for capital funding; the rest is allocated to research through a portfolio of national research programmes.
The funding supports clinical research in the NHS, research commissioned for policy development, and the NHS costs incurred in supporting research funded by other bodies such as the Research Councils and charities. Some funding is provided to increase capacity to undertake research, and to underpin the UK Clinical Research Collaboration and priority disease research networks.
12.The Research and Development Office for the Northern Ireland Health and Personal Social Services (R&D Office) administers an annual fund of £12m to support high-quality research and development to enhance the health and wellbeing of the people of Northern Ireland. It supports the infrastructure for research, building research capacity, and research projects and programmes.
12. The Wales Office of Research and Development for Health and Social Care (WORD) is a branch of the Strategy Unit in the Welsh Assembly Government's Department of Health and Social Services. The strategic aim of WORD is to support the generation of high-quality evidence to underpin policy and practice in health and social care in Wales, for the benefit of patients and the public. To meet this aim, WORD develops - in consultation with partners - policy on research and development to reflect the health and social care priorities of the Welsh Assembly Government. WORD also commissions and directly funds research and development activity, and contract manages projects and initiatives to ensure that the highest standards are met.