New report shows the financial and social value of investing in medical research
21 November 2008
The report, commissioned by the Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust and Academy of Medical Sciences, focused on the returns from UK investment into research in cardiovascular disease and mental health. It found that, for each pound invested in cardiovascular disease research by the taxpayer or charity donor, there was a stream of benefits equivalent to earning 39 pence each year for ever. Mental health research generated benefits equivalent to 37 pence per pound invested each year for ever. The study also found that public and charitable funding of medical research encouraged greater investment from the pharmaceutical industry.
The year-long study focused on results of the investment in research over the period 1975-1992. It was carried out by a consortium involving the Health Economics Research Group at Brunel University, the Office of Health Economics and RAND Europe. The research involved the development of a methodology to calculate the health and GDP (gross domestic product) gains from investing in medical research.
The research was led by Professor Martin Buxton from the Health Economics Research Group, who said: "Estimating the returns on investment in medical research is notoriously difficult. This is partly due to the time it takes for research to filter into measurable health benefits. We looked at the value of health gains, once the cost of healthcare had been taken into account, and gains to the UK's national income (GDP) from medical research."
He went on: "Our aim was to generate realistic estimates of the economic impacts of medical research. The methodology we came up with should help to assess the returns for different disease areas. However, this was never intended as a one-off exercise, and we hope our results will stimulate more work in this important but neglected area of research."
The study showed that there is a time lag between research expenditure and eventual health benefits of approximately 17 years. It also showed that reducing this time lag would improve economic returns. The study has raised further questions, including whether returns on investment differ outside of the time frame studied, or whether returns remain the same, increase or differ depending on the area of research funded. More research is needed to answer these questions.
Data were gathered from UK research funders, including the MRC, Department of Health and Wellcome Trust, to work out total investment in the two chosen disease areas. Evidence-based clinical guidelines, from NICE (the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence), were used to estimate the UK's research contribution to interventions in these fields. Forty six different interventions to treat or prevent cardiovascular disease were analysed, for example aspirin, beta blockers and smoking cessation, while the study for mental health used evidence on six such combinations. Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALY), estimated by NICE to be worth around £25 000 each, were used to measure the quantity and quality of life gained from a health intervention.
Professor Martin Roland, the chair of the UK Evaluation Forum Working Group said: "This work will now help us to ask many more searching questions about the areas in which we invest in medical research. It throws into relief the wider importance of investment in medical research for economic growth as well as for social and health benefit."
Jon Sussex, Deputy Director at the Office of Health Economics added: "In addition to ways of improving people's length and quality of life, medical research benefits the UK economy.The UK is richer as a result of medical research, as well as healthier."
Other quotes
Sir Leszek Borysiewicz FRS FMedSci, Chief Executive of the MRC, said: "The report provides a fascinating insight into the substantial benefits of medical research. A key message we can take from the findings - particularly during the current economic downturn - is that supporting a wide portfolio of research is very important for future patient and wider economic benefit. It can be hard to see the full potential of research at the outset, but this study shows that investment at an early stage can pay very healthy dividends further down the line."
Sir John Bell FRS PMedSci, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences, said: "When stripped down to pounds spent and pounds saved it is important that we are able to demonstrate the substantial benefits of medical research to healthcare and the economy. Knowing that investment not only leads to the enrichment of patients lives but also the state of the economy will help to justify continued support during this time of financial uncertainty."
Peter Hollins, Chief Executive of the British Heart Foundation, said: "As the biggest funder of heart research in the UK, we have always believed in its value. This study lays out in black and white the striking fact that every pound people generously donate today continues to benefit all of us long into the future."
Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said: "We very much welcome the findings of this study. Research is one of the most important weapons we have to tackle the immense challenges that mental illness presents to our society, not least because mental health problems are strongly implicated in most of the major physical diseases we are fighting too."
Contact
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Notes for editors
The full study, and a briefing on key findings, can be downloaded from the Wellcome Trust website.
The research addressed exclusively the economic returns to the UK population and the UK economy from medical research. Clearly there is extra benefit to other countries from research carried out in the UK but these returns were not measured.
The analysis of the gains for cardiovascular disease was built up from evidence on 46 different patient indication/treatment combinations, and that for mental health from evidence on six such combinations.
The findings also showed that public and charitable funding of medical research encouraged greater investment from the pharmaceutical industry, a so-called 'spill-over' effect. One example of this is that public investment in universities generates skilled graduates, new ideas, networking opportunities and high quality libraries. The report points out that it is no coincidence that high-tech firms choose to base themselves near top quality universities. Each £1 of extra public/charitable investment in UK medical research was estimated to yield between £2.20 and £5.10 of extra pharmaceutical company research and development investment, which taken together earned an extra £1.10 to £2.50 GDP per year for the UK economy.
Of the 39 or 37 per cent rates of return, 30 percentage points were due to GDP gains rather than health gains.
The UK Evaluation Forum was established in 2004 to coordinate activity in determining the socio-economic benefits of UK medical research. It has pulled together representation from Government, the research councils, medical charities and academia. Following an initial mapping exercise of evaluation practices in member organisations, an international symposium was convened in 2005 to discuss evaluation needs and expectations amongst UK research stakeholders and to review what had already been attempted in demonstrating the socio-economic impact of health research in other countries. The outputs of the symposium, and the further deliberations of the Evaluation Forum, were published in the 2006 report ‘Medical Research: Assessing the benefits to society’.
The Medical Research Council supports the best scientific research to improve human health. Its work ranges from molecular level science to public health medicine and has led to pioneering discoveries in our understanding of the human body and the diseases which affect us all. MRC is the UK's major funder of stem cell research and has a key role in delivering Government's expectations in this area.
The Wellcome Trust is the largest charity in the UK. It funds innovative biomedical research, in the UK and internationally, spending over £600 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.
The independent Academy of Medical Sciences promotes advances in medical science and campaigns to ensure these are translated into benefits for patients. The Academy's Fellows are the United Kingdom's leading medical scientists and scholars from hospitals, academia, industry and the public service.
The Health Economics Research Group (HERG) at Brunel University has developed an international reputation in health economics over more than 20 years. HERG's strategic focus is on the economic evaluation of a broad range of clinical and health service technologies and on assessing the payback from health research.Its dual aim is to provide applied, policy-relevant research while developing and refining methods to increase the rigour and relevance of such studies.
The Office of Health Economics provides independent research, advisory and consultancy services on policy implications and economic issues within the pharmaceutical, health care and biotechnology industries. Its main areas of focus are: the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, health care systems - their financing and organisation, and the economics of health technology assessment.
RAND Europe continues a tradition of innovative problem solving started by the RAND Corporation 60 years ago. Its wide-ranging and interdisciplinary research covers a range of areas including healthcare, science and technology, defence and security, transport and choice modeling, and the information economy. Expertise in the area of evaluation, audit and strategy provides crucial support to a range of organisations from various Directorates General of the European Commission to the United Kingdom's National Audit Office. RAND Europe often pioneers new methodologies to tackle the most complex problems.