Expanding HTA
The publication of the Cooksey Review in December 2006 marked the start of a period of rapid change for health research arrangements in the UK, and posed exciting prospects for expansion for the HTA programme. The Cooksey Review said that the HTA programme should be expanded to receive a greater proportion of support for clinical research, quality and safety research and public health intervention research within the overall portfolio of UK health research. The government decided to fund in full the recommendations of the Cooksey Review, expanding the joint health research fund to £1.7 billion by 2010. Under new arrangements the funding will be split between the NIHR and the MRC with the NIHR receiving £992 million, an increase of over £290 million. In turn the HTA programme will see its budget rise substantially, allowing it to expand both its commissioned and researcher-led funding routes to enhance its portfolio of translational research. Find out more.
New collaborations
Under the guidance of the Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research (OSCHR), important new collaborations are beginning which will ensure the swift translation of developments in basic biomedical research into benefits for patients and the public, and the HTA programme is set to play an important part in this.
In particular, the HTA programme has been supporting work to create more coherent funding arrangements to support translational research. A new joint arrangement for clinical trials has been announced by the NIHR and the MRC as part of the wider joint strategy, and the HTA programme will form a key part of these plans, working closely together with a new Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluations (EME) programme, to be formally launched on 1 April 2008.
The EME programme will fund clinical trials and evaluative studies which add significantly to our understanding of biological or behavioural mechanisms and processes, explore new scientific or clinical principles, evaluate clinical efficacy of interventions where proof of concept in humans has already been achieved and the development or testing of new methodologies. The HTA programme will work closely alongside the new programme to ensure that promising technologies are carried from the efficacy and safety stage through to being assessed for clinical and cost-effectiveness to the NHS.
The new arrangements mean that there will be a funding home for all clinical trials and evaluative studies through the EME and HTA programmes, depending on the trial’s aims and objectives. Find out more about how to apply.
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