Contract awarded to assess the economic benefits of UK medical research
29 June 2007
Economic returns on the investment in UK medical research are to be assessed in a project jointly commissioned by the Academy of Medical Sciences, Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust.
Understanding the nature and extent of returns on the investment in medical research is a neglected area of scientific study. This new project will attempt to quantify the economic value of health improvements and commercial exploitation arising from health research in the UK.
The project will focus on the specific returns in two key areas of UK medical research - cardiovascular disease and mental health.
The contract for the £120 000 project has been awarded to a consortium led by the Health Economics Research Group at Brunel University, including RAND Europe and the Office of Health Economics. The project is scheduled to deliver its findings in 2008.
The project has been commissioned in direct response to the recommendation that funders should support research to assess the economic impact of medical research in the UK, which was made in a 2006 report, 'Medical research: assessing the benefits to society', published by the Academy, the MRC and the Wellcome Trust as part of the UK Evaluation Forum. 1
Professor Martin Roland CBE FMedSci, who chaired the 2006 report said: "Medical research plays a vital role in improving national health and prosperity. But there are increasing demands for evidence of value for money in all areas of public expenditure, and it is important that the socioeconomic benefits of medical research can be clearly measured and demonstrated.
"I am delighted that the Academy of Medical Sciences, Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust have awarded this contract, which responds to a key recommendation in the UK Evaluation Forum report."
Despite a growing interest in this area, there remains a tension between advocacy for greater investment in research and rigorous assessment of research outcomes. Previous work by the US Lasker Foundation to quantify the economic benefits of medical research, 'Exceptional Returns', 2 claimed that the economic value of reductions in US cardiovascular disease is worth 20 times the amount spent by the US on medical research in the area.
Professor Roland added: "The US Exceptional Returns study shows a high rate of return on the investment in medical research by any standards. We need to be careful when applying some of its assumptions to the UK. The work to be carried out under this contract will develop a better evidence base for continued UK investment in high-quality medical research."
Notes for editors
1. Further details on the UK Evaluation Forum, including the 2006 report, 'Medical Research: assessing the benefits to society' can be obtained from http://www.acmedsci.ac.uk/p48prid1.html.
2. Download the 'Exceptional Returns' study [PDF 276KB]
3. For further details on the contract and project, please contact Wellcome Trust Media Office (email: media.office@wellcome.ac.uk, tel: 020 7611 8866); Medical Research Council Press Office (email: press.office@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk, tel: 020 7637 6011); or Professor Martin Buxton, Health Economics Research Group, Brunel University (email: martin.buxton@brunel.ac.uk, tel: 01895 203331).
4. The independent Academy of Medical Sciences promotes advances in medical science and campaigns to ensure these are converted into healthcare benefits for society. The Academy's Fellows are the UK's leading medical scientists from hospitals, academia, industry and the public service.
5. The Medical Research Council is dedicated to improving human health through excellent science. It invests on behalf of the UK taxpayer. Its work ranges from molecular level science to public health research, carried out in universities, hospitals and a network of its own units and institutes. The MRC liaises with the Health Departments, the National Health Service and industry to take account of the public's needs. The results have led to some of the most significant discoveries in medical science and benefited the health and wealth of millions of people in the UK and around the world.
6. The Wellcome Trust is the largest charity in the UK. It funds innovative biomedical research, in the UK and internationally, spending around £500 million each year to support the brightest scientists with the best ideas.The Wellcome Trust supports public debate about biomedical research and its impact on health and wellbeing.
7. The Health Economics Research Group (HERG) is a Specialist Research Institute within Brunel University. It has an international reputation for high-quality, policy-relevant economic evaluations of a broad range of clinical and health service technologies. An increasingly important stream of HERG's research is the evaluation of the payback or impact from health research.
8. RAND Europe is an independent not-for-profit research organisation whose mission is to help improve policy and decision making through research and analysis. Our clients include European governments, institutions, foundations and private sector organisations, all of which have a need for rigorous, impartial and multidisciplinary policy research and analysis.
9. The Office of Health Economics provides independent research, advisory and consultant services on policy and economic issues within the pharmaceutical, health care and biotechnology sectors. Its main areas of focus are: the economics of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry; health care systems - their financing, organisation and performance; and the economics of the health technology assessment.