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 socio-economic 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.’’
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