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The PM will announce four new initiatives. First, seriously ill patients will be granted access to new drug treatments before they have cleared clinical trials — this measure will accelerate the introduction of innovative new treatments, encouraging drug companies to boost their research and development spending in the hope of making substantial profits in a shorter period of time than is currently possible. The government will also provide £180m as a “catalyst fund” to boost private R&D investment, and a smaller sum (perhaps only £10m) will be spent in partnership with AstraZeneca to reopen closed experiments into treating diseases such as cancer and diabetes. Finally, the government plans to alter the NHS’ constitution to give researchers and pharmaceutical companies access to patient records to target treatments more effectively, which has privacy campaigners up in arms.
Science minister David Willetts has been across the airwaves this morning to explain the deregulatory policy. He has also written an op-ed for the Times (£) in which he says:
‘The Medical Research Council alone has identified 360 promising ideas developed under its auspices, 280 of which are awaiting commercialisation. But we will never persuade investors to fund
these innovations unless we can show that the NHS is open to help and then to adopting them for UK patients if successful. We need to make it much easier to show “proof of concept” in
a hospital environment. Then the private sector will invest.’
The media and various esteemed public bodies are very excited about these proposals — the Times, for instance, names it ‘Cameron’s prescription for economic growth’, while the Royal Society calls it a ‘great opportunity’. But it’s worth pointing out that the government’s investment pales next to the £500m it has just reallocated within the HS2 budget to build a tunnel under the Tory heartlands in the Chilterns. Perceptions count for a lot. However, the controversial data sharing initiative could herald a radical development. The government has been debating whether to share personal records with the private sector. The argument has been long and fierce — with Steve Hilton trying to cajole the cautious forces in Whitehall and the coalition into action. Perhaps today’s announcement signifies that he has won the wider battle.
Because you read about coalition
Also by David Blackburn
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