News & Events

New funding stream for translational medicine

24 June 2011

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is to launch a new, commissioned, workstream for the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) programme. The new commissioned workstream is funded by NIHR, with contributions from the CSO in Scotland and NISCHR in Wales. It will complement the established MRC funded EME researcher-led workstream which funds research into the efficacy and broader impact of healthcare treatments and tests.

The new commissioned workstream aims to evaluate innovative and novel healthcare treatments and tests which address priority areas of unmet need. The workstream will promote a measurable positive impact on health, the NHS, innovation and wealth creation. The EME commissioned workstream will encourage partnership working between academia, industry and the NHS. Involvement of charities will also be welcomed.

The EME programme aims to support excellent clinical science with a view to improving health or patient care. The commissioned workstream will support this aim and will issue calls for research proposals on specific topics three times a year.
The first call will open on 27th June. Applications are sought for studies in the field of stratified medicine that focus on the development, understanding or use of diagnostic or predictive tests or algorithms. This area has been identified as a key research opportunity which is most likely to lead to significant advances in health outcomes. For more information on the June call, please visit: www.eme.ac.uk/funding

Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer said, "This new funding will support both the vital translation of ideas from early to later phase clinical trials, and also innovation and market development in the biomedical sector. The EME programme has a strong track record in 'pulling through' novel healthcare treatments and will be an effective commissioner and manager of this work".

Further information about how you can apply for funding can be found at: www.eme.ac.uk

Notes to Editors:

1. Stratified medicine definition: For the purpose of this call stratified medicine describes an approach to patient management through the identification of key subgroups of patients with shared biological characteristics, distinct mechanisms of disease or particular responses to treatment. Stratification may be based on molecular, biochemical or diagnostic imaging and testing. It allows targeting of treatments to specific disease pathways and the identification of treatments that are effective for particular groups of patients to ensure that the right patient gets the right treatment at the right time.
2. This research area was identified by a meeting of senior academics, industry researchers and users of research in December 2008 at Mar Hall, Renfrewshire and the minutes of the meeting are available here.
3. The Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation programme supports later-phase "science-driven" clinical trials and evaluative studies, which seek to determine whether a health intervention (e.g. a drug, diagnostic technique or device) works and in some cases how or why it works.
4. The Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation programme is funded by the MRC and NIHR, with contributions from the CSO in Scotland and NISCHR in Wales. It is managed by the NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre (NETSCC) based at the University of Southampton.
5. The 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 www.nihr.ac.uk
6. 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. www.mrc.ac.uk