Current Issues
In this section you will find information on:
UK BIOBANK
http://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/
The purpose of the UK Biobank initiative is to create a national
resource for the study of nature and nurture in health and disease.
It will build on the existing knowledge of epidemiology and
initiatives such as the Human Genome Project to create a database
of information and samples which can be used to improve diagnosis
and treatment of disease in the future. The College’s
Research Group considers that this study will be one of the most
important scientific developments in the early 21st
Century and this view has been endorsed by the
College.
The idea behind the Biobank initiative is to enable
researchers to compare environmental exposures, lifestyles and
molecular events to see how who becomes ill during the lifetime of
the project (20 years or more) differ from those who do not.
Some half a million people in the UK aged 40 – 69 will be recruited
to the study using existing health registers (not GP records) and
invited by a national co-ordinating centre to one of 8 – 10
peripatetic regional centres for an assessment. This
assessment will involve the provision of a blood and urine sample
and the recording of some simple measurements by qualified staff
(e.g. blood pressure, height and weight). Participants will
also be asked to provide information about their current health,
lifestyle and medical history and give permission for Biobank to
follow their health records in confidence. All the samples
will be sent to a central location for preliminary analysis and
stores at very low temperatures. These samples can then be
analysed in the future to identify molecular markers associated
with disease.
The programme will follow a prospective cohort design so that
case control studies can subsequently be carried out.
Participants may also be asked to provide more information or
another sample at a later date. Using this resource,
epidemiologists and clinical researchers will be able to study the
underlying mechanisms of health and disease and identify markers of
disease and disease progression. Biobank will help clinicians
understand why the effectiveness of existing medicines varies
amongst different people and support the findings of smaller scale
studies with increased statistical power allowing researchers to
ask new and important questions.
Best Research for Best Health: A
New National Health Research Strategy
Comments have been sought on the above
consultation
document which sets out proposals for the new NHS R&D
Strategy. The closing date for the submission of comments was 21st
October 2005. Comments on this document were submitted by the
College and to which the Research Group made a major
contribution. The published strategy is now available on
the
Department of Health website.
UK
Clinical Research Collaboration
The UK Clinical Research Collaboration (
UKCRC) is a new Partnership of
organisations united by the shared aim of establishing the position
of the UK as a world leader in clinical research, by harnessing the
power of the NHS. The Collaboration was established by the
Government in response to growing concerns that the UK was not
fully realising the clinical research potential offered by the
NHS. The Collaboration produces regular
newsletters and
updates of their
current activity are provided on their website.
A UK Clinical Research Network has also been established to
provide a clinical infrastructure to enable clinical research to be
conducted across the NHS and this is under the strategic oversight
of the UKCRC.
The UKCRC brings together the major stakeholders that
influence the clinical research environment in the UK. The
Partnership
includes representatives from the main funding bodies for clinical
research in the UK, academic medicine, the NHS, regulatory bodies,
representatives from industry and patients. It includes Partners
from:
- UK Departments of Health, Medical Research Council (MRC), The
Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK (CRUK), Association of Medical
Research Charities (AMRC)
- The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI),
Bio-Industries Association (BIA), The Association of British
Healthcare Industries (ABHI).
- NHS Confederation, Strategic Health Authorities, National
Institute of Clinical Excellence(NICE).
- Academy of Medical Sciences, Academy of Medical Royal
Colleges.
- Office of Science and Technology/Department of Trade and
Industry, Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency
(MHRA).
- INVOLVE plus additional consumer group representation.
(INVOLVE promotes public involvement NHS, public health and social
care research.)
- Building up the infrastructure in the NHS
- Developing incentives for research in the
NHS
- Building up the research workforce
- Streamlining the regulatory and governance
processes
- Co-ordinating clinical research
funding.
How can you get involved with UKCRC?
The UKCRC Partners recommend that the most effective way of
engaging with the Collaboration will be through the
member
organisations involved in the UKCRC Board. The UKCRC
core team is located
at the Medical Research Council's London office.
UK Clinical
Research Network
The
UKCRN forms one of the key
components of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC) whose
aim is to oversee the efficient and effective translation of
scientific advances into patient care, supported by funding from a
variety of governmental, public sector, charitable and industrial
funding bodies.
The UK Clinical Research Network (
UKCRN) was developed to
support clinical research and to facilitate the conduct of
randomised prospective trials of interventions and other
well-designed studies. It is initially supporting the development
of six Topic Specific Research Networks in the fields of cancer,
dementias and neurodegenerative disease, diabetes, medicines for
children, mental health and stroke and, over time, will hopefully
enable research to be conducted across the full spectrum of disease
and clinical need.
Six topic specific
networks have, or are to be established: cancer, mental health,
medicines for children, diabetes, stroke and dementias and
neurodegenerative disease. The UKCRN Co-ordinating Centre has
a key role in ensuring that the topic specific networks work
closely together and develop a consistent approach to issues that
are common to all their activities. The Co-ordinating Centre
also works closely with the UKCRC in a number of its workstream
activities.
A Primary Care Research Network is also to be established
comprising up to 10 networks across the UK to be co-ordinated by
the UKCRN Co-ordinating Centre. A notice that expressions of
interest are soon to be sought has been placed on the National
Co-ordinating Centre for Research Capacity Development's
(
NCCRCD) website. These new
networks will be expected to be able to deliver high quality
studies and assist in the recruitment to clinical research.
Groups within local health economies are being encouraged to to
come together to develop networks. Key stakeholders are
likely to include general practitioners, academic units and
departments, other groups in primary care (dentists, pharmacists,
etc), RDSUs, industry links and local NHS partners in PCTs and PCTs
(RM&G). The expectation is that the new PCRNs will
be established by September/October 2006.
The remodelled networks will be funded largely from existing
NCCRCD support for primary care infrastructure, supplemented by a
contribution from NHS R&D Support Fundings.
The Primary Care Research Network - England
The Department of Health in England has recently launched the
Primary
Care Research Network (PCRN). The UKCRN Coordinating
Centre will be responsible for the coordination function on the
PCRN in the first instance. The key aim of the network is to
facilitate the conduct of clinical trials and other well-designed
studies in primary care and at the interface with
secondary/tertiary care with the intention of:
- Improving the coordination and speed of research.
- Maintaining and enhancing the quality of research.
- Improving the integration of research with service.
- Widening participation in research.
- Improving patient care and the health of the population.
PCRN will be a managed research network mapping on to NHS
primary care services in England and will comprise a maximum of 8
Local Research Networks (LRNs). The development of the LRNs
will be coordinated with the topic specific networks within the
UKCRN.