New Phase Of Additional Funds To Support Clinical Trials Methods, UK
The methodology hubs will underpin the substantial increase in clinical trials activity being planned by the MRC and NIHR for early and late phase clinical trials, which is part of the overall joint translational research strategy to turn research into health and economic benefits more efficiently. This new initiative will be managed by the MRC on behalf of the MRC-NIHR partnership.
Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, MRC chief executive, said:
"The MRC championed the randomised controlled trial which is the acknowledged gold standard in testing new treatments. More recently it devised the MRC framework for complex interventions to help researchers undertake more complex evaluations testing combinations of treatments and particularly non-pharmacological interventions.
This new initiative will build on these achievements and position the UK at the forefront of clinical trials methodology research. The regional hubs will be ideally placed to ensure that the MRC and NIHR can best deliver the clinical trials necessary for improving patient care in the UK." Professor Sally Davies, Director General of Research and Development at the Department of Health said:
"The Comprehensive Spending Review has provided NIHR with the funding to support an unprecedented expansion in clinical trials activity, for the ultimate benefit of patients and the public. However, this research will only be able to provide reliable and relevant evidence if it is conducted using the most powerful and appropriate research methods. The complexity of new interventions, and the speed with which they are developed, presents challenges to those who wish to studytheir effectiveness. The new research methodology hubs being established by MRC on behalf of the MRC-NIHR partnership, will play a key role in developing the methods to meet these challenges."
The funds available will be used to establish regional centres of excellence which undertake high quality research into clinical trials methodology. The centres will have close links with those carrying out clinical trials (for example clinical academics or those in clinical trials units) to ensure the development of methods is influenced by real issues. Conversely, these close links will help to ensure new methods are used in clinical trial studies as quickly as possible. The funding will also enable more researchers to be trained in clinical trials methodology research.
This initiative follows the launch of the MRC-NIHR's Methodology Research Programme - a grant scheme for methods research across the breadth of basic and applied health research, also led by MRC (http://www.mrc.ac.uk/opportunities).
The MRC and NIHR joint arrangements have been developed with the Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research.
Notes
1. 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. http://www.mrc.ac.uk
2. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) provides the framework through which the research staff and research infrastructure of the NHS in England is positioned, maintained and managed as a national research facility. The NIHR provides the NHS with the support and infrastructure it needs to conduct first-class research funded by the Government and its partners alongside high-quality patient care, education and training. Its aim is to support outstanding individuals (both leaders and collaborators), working in world class facilities (both NHS and university), conducting leading edge research focused on the needs of patients. http://www.nihr.ac.uk
3. OSCHR has now been established as a Government office jointly by the Department of Heath (DH) and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS). OSCHR is headed by a non-executive Chair who is appointed by, and reports to, the Secretaries of State for Health and for Innovation, Universities and Skills. Professor John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University and President of the Academy of Medical Sciences, has been appointed as the first Chair of OSCHR.
4. OSCHR's mission is to facilitate more efficient translation of health research into health and economic benefits in the UK through better coordination of health research and more coherent funding arrangements to support translation. The key functions of OSCHR are to:
- Work with officials from DH, DIUS and the Devolved Administrations to set the Government's health research strategy, taking into account the advice, priorities and needs set out by NIHR and its equivalents in the Devolved Countries, MRC and the NHS;
- Set the budget required to deliver this strategy and submit a single Spending Review bid to the Treasury; Communicate the UK's health priorities to the pharmaceutical and bioscience sectors, including designating public and private sector projects addressing hitherto unmet health needs as 'UK Priority Projects';
- Monitor delivery of the strategy against objectives and report to Parliament on progress; and
- Encourage a stronger partnership between Government, health industries and charities. The OSCHR Board is currently focusing on three main areas of activity - translational medicine, public health and e-health. More details on joint strategy development activities under the aegis of OSCHR can be found on the MRC and NIHR websites.
Medical Research Council
Nouã fazã de fonduri suplimentare pentru susþinerea studiile clinice Metode, Marea Britanie - New Phase Of Additional Funds To Support Clinical Trials Methods, UK - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate