In response to the 2011 Budget announcements, Academy President Professor Sir John Bell said,
I welcome the recognition the Government has made in today’s Plan for Growth of the vital role research plays in delivering health and wealth benefits. I am delighted to see the steps announced to streamline the regulation and governance of medical research and that the Academy's recent work has played a key role in the development of these plans. I look forward to seeing how these announcements are developed in the coming weeks and months and to working with all involved to ensure any changes to the regulatory environment in the UK are implemented effectively
Professor Sir Michael Rawlins FMedSci, Chair of an Academy of Medical Sciences working group that prepared the report, ‘A new pathway for the regulation and governance of health research’ said:
The Academy’s report identified the national importance of a streamlined and proportionate system for the regulation and governance of health research for the good of patients, the public and the economy. I am delighted to see that the Government has acted quickly in announcing a package of measures that take forward recommendations from our report. The new Health Research Regulatory Agency must remove some of the current complexity and achieve greater efficiency by acting as a ‘one-stop-shop’ for regulatory approvals. Addressing the current bottleneck in obtaining NHS R&D permission will be crucial to delivering new treatments to patients. Streamlining how the providers of NHS services approve research should be the highest priority and linking future NIHR funding to a faster approval process is a welcome step in improving performance.
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For further information, please contact:
Nicholas Hillier, Head of Communications and Corporate Events, Academy of Medical Sciences
nick.hillier@acmedsci.ac.uk
Notes for Editors
The independent Academy of Medical Sciences promotes advances in medical science and campaigns to ensure these are translated into benefits for patients. The Academy’s Fellows are the United Kingdom’s leading medical scientists and scholars from hospitals, academia, industry and the public service.