Prof John Gribben on UK non-commercial research
Posted by Andrew Smith on September 9, 2009
Professor John Gribben, R&D Director for Barts and The London School NHS Trust, started the afternoon session with a discussion of the perspective of the non-commercial research sector. He is also Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine, so many of his examples came from oncology.
He started with money: the old Culyer model for research funding will be removed completely by 2010 after several years of transition, to be replaced by the new activity-based funding model. Many Trusts have dealt with this transition by stalling research activity, leading a need for pump priming funding. This has come to some extent from CLRN funding, but alternative funding strategies have also needed to be considered.
John stated the need for Trusts to consider R&D as a vital part of their mission: we need to demonstrate its value, in terms of patient care, grants, publications etc. along with recouping costs of patient care and obtaining access to patient referrals, drugs, imaging approaches etc. that could not otherwise be used. Partnership with NIHR is essential to this, also enabling access to separate funding streams.
To develop experimental medicine, we need to engage further with the public in the imprortance of clinical trials, work to increase visibility within the EM community, and stress the importance of research in the everyday work of the Trust.
John discussed the balance of activities between discovery and exploration in the medical schools and application and delivery in the Trusts.
Looking at impediments to non-commercial clinical trials, these include the quality of the initial idea, capability to manufacture and test drugs to GMP level, funding and sponsorship, ethical approval, and monitoring and pharmacovigilance (with which the non-commercial sector is only just getting to grips). The significance of these points varies between single centre and multicentre studies.
The remainder of John’s talk discussed the network of 19 Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres, which was launched in 2006. Their aim is to bring together laboratory and clinical research to speed up development in early phase. This contrasts with the NCRN, which handles oncology trials of all phases. At John’s Trust, these two bodies are brought together in a single governance structure, to enable cross-referral of patients and to provide a single point of contact for advice, ethics applications etc.
John stressed the need to challenge and change the perception from industry sponsors that UK trial units are “too expensive”, “too obstructive” and “don’t deliver on promised targets” through active collaboration.
