Chancellor announces £150m for clinical research infrastructure

GEORGE Osborne has announced a £150m investment in the UK’s clinical research infrastructure, benefitting a number of Yorkshire projects.

The Treasury has worked with the Department of Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) to allocate £150m of funding to the Medical Research Council’s (MRC) Clinical Research Capital Initiative. This money adds to the £80m funding also pledged to the initiative by the MRC, devolved authorities, universities, and charities, bringing the total capital to over £230m.

The investment presents an opportunity to enhance the UK’s clinical research capabilities and will focus particularly on developing ground breaking technologies and experimental medicines.

Projects benefiting from the investment include the teams from the University of Leeds and York who are pioneering the SABRE imaging method to increase the signal of an MRI image up to 100,000 times.
 
The work of projects like this will help in identifying the causes of conditions and diseases such as cancer and dementia, and dramatically speeding up diagnosis and treatment.

Osborne said: “The UK is already a world leader in science and research, which is why at the Budget, I protected science spending. Today we go a step further by announcing £150m of new investment in clinical research infrastructure. The funding will go to 23 truly innovative projects from across the UK today that represent the best of British ingenuity and scientific exploration. The Government, charities, universities and industry will be working together to advance our knowledge in combatting the biggest medical challenges of our time.”