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Government to put extra ¡ê100m into clinical research by 2008
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     The health secretary, John Reid, said this week that new funds released in last week’s budget would be spent on developing new drugs for Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, diabetes, and mental health and new medicines for children.

    "The outstanding success of the national cancer research networks, which have doubled the number of patients in clinical trials, will provide the model to tackle these diseases," said Mr Reid in a statement.

    Chancellor Gordon Brown said in his budget speech that clinical research funding in the NHS would be increased by ?5m ($46.2m; €37.4m) over and above inflation each year, totalling an extra ?00m by 2008.

    "I can confirm today that the combined budget for medical research and research and development within the NHS will rise and that by 2008 will approach ?.2bn a year," Mr Brown told parliament on 17 March.

    The extra funds have delighted the pharmaceutical industry and medical charities, which have pushed to make Britain a centre for drug trials.

    Mr Brown said new drugs for these conditions would be developed by specialist research institutes, modelled on the successful National Cancer Research Institute. The centres, which will bring public and private sector researchers together, will be funded by a 10 year plan to boost medical research, he said.

    The National Cancer Research Institute, set up in April 2001, comprises the Department of Health, the Medical Research Council, and several leading medical charities.

    Mr Brown also said the government would set up a national clinical trials agency to give scientists a strategic overview of UK drug development.

    The new Clinical Research Collaboration, involving the NHS, the drug industry, and medical charities, would encourage thousands of NHS patients to join clinical trials, said the government. The partnership was a key recommendation of a 2003 government backed review, which looked at ways to promote the biotechnology industry, said Mr Brown.

    The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, which funds a third of Britain’s industrial research and development, welcomed the chancellor’s extra cash. A spokesman for the association said that a poll that it published last week showed that 78% of the public wanted the government to focus investment on developing innovative drugs.

    Mr Brown said he was giving the additional funds to research following a report by the industry led Bioscience Innovation and Growth Team, which has called for action to make Britain a hub for research (BMJ 2003;327:1183).

    Mr Brown backed his shot in the arm for clinical research with a 10 year investment framework for medical science, which was published at a meeting with the heads of major drug firms two weeks ago (www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/newsroom_and_speeches/press/2004/press_19_04.cfm).

    The chancellor laid out the long term plan because the government is anxious that major drug firms view the United Kingdom as a favourable place to invest and work.

    However, the science minister, David Sainsbury, admitted that the European Union’s target to raise research and development spending to 3% of gross domestic product by 2010 would be "difficult to achieve."

    Between 1997 and 2002, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has shown that UK business expenditure on research and development was on average 1.4% of gross domestic product compared with the EU average of about 2.3%.(London Haroon Khwaja)