IMPROVING THE NATIONS HEALTH, INCREASING THE NATIONS WEALTH.

(From Government News Network (Was Hermes-Government Press Releases))

] HM TREASURY 100/05 2 December 2005 IMPROVING THE NATION'S HEALTH, INCREASING THE NATION'S WEALTH: A NEW DEAL FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, and the Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, today set out measures to improve the nation's health and increase the nation's wealth by making the UK a world-class environment for medical research, development and innovation, through a programme of investment and reforms that enable high quality and cost-effective medical advances to be discovered and developed quickly, cheaply and reliably.

The biomedical industry - through Sir David Cooksey, Chairman of the Industry Reference Group of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration - have responded to these reforms with a willingness to grow significantly their investment in medical R&D in the UK involving the National Health Service by up to an additional GBP1 billion per year in the medium to long-term - an increase of roughly 30 per cent.

As the next stage in the science and innovation investment framework 2004-2014 - and as a result of the recent Department of Health consultation on their strategy Best Research for Best Health and the excellent work of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration - the Government will put in place a series of measures that will help to make the UK a world-class environment for health research, development and innovation. This framework includes:

* a commitment to implement key measures proposed in Best Research for Best Health, including the establishment of a new National Institute for Health Research to …