Gordon Brown announces new public health research body

Gordon Brown announces new public health research body
A report, compiled by famous venture capitalist Sir David Cooksey, on government funding of health research was released yesterday. Accepting the recommendations of the report British Chancellor of Exchequer, Gordon Brown, has announced the setting up of a new body that will oversee and coordinate the work of current health research bodies, the Medical Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research and the Research division of the Department of Health.

The new body is to be called the Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research (OSCHR) and will be headed by Professor John Bell. Professor Bell holds the position of regius professor of medicine at Oxford as well president of the Academy of Medical Sciences. His appointment has been welcomed by all parties given his contribution to common disease genetics and level of trust he enjoys from the research bodies.

The Cooksey report has made significant recommendations on improving health research. It has asked for a systematic approach to the researches that are funded by the government, to reduce red tape so that important drugs are released into the market quickly and to improve salaries for medical academicians.

In response to these recommendations the OSCHR will have the power to decide which research needs to be done on a priority basis and which new technologies need to be funded that could be crucial in improving public health. The body can also prioritize research projects that cover a hitherto unmet health requirement. The Chancellor also mentioned that steps would be taken to enhance the drug development cycle so as to reduce costs of developing drugs as well as faster means of evaluating the safety and efficacy of new drugs so that they reach the market faster.

The Chancellor has announced that OSCHR will have an annual budget of at least ₤1 billion. An extra ₤60 million has been announced for universities to fund research that have commercial potential.

Though the creation of the new body and the initiatives has been applauded the funding amount has raised some concerns in various quarters. The Conservative party pointed out that this amount was almost the same as what the Treasury was already spending on medical research. The British Medical Association had expected a budget of ₤1.3 billion for the new financial year and was concerned about the loss of ₤300 million. Other researchers were concerned that a combined budget might lead to the scraping of baseline research funding.