The Medical Research Council welcomes the first ever analysis of health research funding in the UK
25 May 2006
The Medical Research Council (MRC) welcomes the first comprehensive analysis of health research in the UK. It is the fruit of work carried out through the UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC). As a snapshot of the impact of research funding decisions up to 2003, it will assist each of the participants and partners in monitoring trends over time and informing the development of their future strategies.
The `kite diagrams` illustrate the breadth of MRC’s investment across the entire spectrum of health research, from science through the microscope right up to health service research.
The spending figures show that 40% of MRC funding goes into underpinning research aimed at understanding normal functions and processes, while 60% is aimed at understanding specific disease mechanisms or treating or preventing disease.
With the publication of the MRC’s Delivery Plan in 2004, the MRC committed to further accelerating the pull-through from biomedical research to health benefits. Clinical and public health research feature strongly, as does the importance of translating basic research findings.
For most disease areas, the snapshot of the level of spending up to 2003 shows that research investment is generally on a par with the burden of illness. However there are some exceptions to this.
For example MRC had already highlighted the need for more research relevant to respiratory disease. The burden of illness of respiratory disease is high due to its common early onset and the fact that the number of people affected has seen a dramatic increase in recent years. Recent MRC awards include the MRC-Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma was opened at King's College London and Imperial College London in September 2005. The Centre aims to integrate basic and clinical research to advance new treatments. More recently we have awarded £2million to Professor Sutton’s team based in the centre to look at immunoglobin E and allergies.
The MRC has also recognised stroke as a key area. Two recent initiatives have brought top international stroke researchers to the UK with MRC funding, while three new strokes trials have recently been funded with a total of £5million. These include a stroke carer training trial award of £1.2M to assess the benefits of assisting stroke carers.
In partnership with the UKCRC, MRC has also recently allocated £15million to new research in experimental medicine to facilitate translation of research into healthcare through early testing of novel treatments or interventions in human participants. Awards range from looking at the potential benefits of stem cell therapies to enhance recovery mechanisms in stroke victims to testing melatonin in premature babies to try to see if it prevents cerebral palsy or other disabilities.
