Funding opportunity launched to strengthen UK regulatory science and support healthcare innovation
Four new centres of excellence will bring together expertise across academia, industry, healthcare and regulation to keep pace with advances in healthcare and life sciences
A new £20m programme to create four new Centres of Excellence for Regulatory Science and Innovation (CERSIs), with each funded for up to five years, is set to strengthen the UK’s capability and agility in regulatory science and help ensure regulation keeps pace with rapid advances in healthcare and life sciences.
Developed through a partnership between the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Office for Life Sciences (OLS), the funding opportunity, launched today (22 September), is inviting applications to establish the four centres.
The CERSIs will bring together world-leading expertise from across academia, industry, healthcare and regulation to develop practical solutions to emerging regulatory challenges and help ensure new innovations can be safely adopted in practice.
Following extensive engagement across the sector, four strategic areas have been identified where regulatory science capability is required to support the next generation of healthcare innovation:
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Data driven approaches and artificial intelligence
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Prevention, early detection and novel evidence approaches
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Personalised healthcare and pharmacogenomics
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Novel platform technologies
As healthcare innovation continues to advance, regulatory science plays an increasingly important role so that new technologies can be evaluated, regulated and translated into patient benefit.
Through the new programme, CERSIs will help develop the evidence, expertise and methods needed to support regulatory preparedness for emerging technologies and address complex challenges across the health and life sciences system.
MHRA Chief Medical and Scientific Officer, Professor Jacob George, said:
The biggest challenges facing healthcare innovation can’t be solved by any one organisation alone.
These centres of excellence in regulatory science will bring together the right expertise from across the system to help us address emerging challenges in regulation, keep pace with advances in science and technology, and ultimately help patients benefit from new innovations more quickly and safely.
The programme also supports the UK’s wider life sciences ambitions by helping to strengthen the expertise and partnerships needed to maintain the UK’s position as a leading destination for scientific research, innovation and investment.
MRC Executive Chair, Professor Patrick Chinnery, said:
Advances in areas such as artificial intelligence, personalised healthcare and novel technologies are creating exciting opportunities to improve people’s lives.
Through this partnership with the MHRA and Office for Life Sciences, we are inviting applications that bring together researchers, regulators and innovators to help ensure regulation keeps pace with innovation to deliver benefits for patients, strengthen the health system and support the UK’s world-leading life sciences sector.
OLS Executive Chair, Steve Bates, said:
The UK has a world-class life sciences sector, so we need regulation to keep up with rapid advances in science and technology. The Office for Life Sciences’ new co-investment in the next phase of CERSIs will bring together expertise from across academia, healthcare, industry and regulation to address emerging challenges and support the safe adoption of innovative technologies.
By strengthening the UK’s regulatory science capability, the CERSIs will help bring transformative technologies to patients sooner and support the UK’s continued leadership in innovative life sciences research, development and investment.
The new programme follows the pilot phase, which has helped build regulatory science capability across a range of emerging and established areas. The pilot is now nearing its end, with the experience and learning from the seven centres informing the development of the next phase.
The MRC and OLS are co-funding the four new CERSIs, supporting the development of stronger and more sustainable centres of expertise capable of delivering lasting value across the health and life sciences system.
The programme combines the MRC’s expertise in funding and supporting world-leading research with the MHRA’s regulatory science expertise, creating a leading-edge partnership to address emerging challenges in healthcare innovation.
Further information on the funding opportunity eligibility criteria, research themes, assessment criteria and funding arrangements are available on the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) website. An applicant webinar will also be held on Tuesday 13 October from 10am to 11am, hosted by the MRC with participation from the MHRA.
Researchers, academic organisations, healthcare organisations, industry and innovators with an interest in regulatory science are encouraged to engage with the funding opportunity and consider applying.
Notes to editors:
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The CERSI pilot established seven centres working across areas including AI, digital health, in-vitro diagnostics, advanced therapies, chemistry, manufacturing and controls, and pharmacogenomics.
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The new programme will build on the pilot and focus on strengthening UK capability in regulatory science and addressing emerging challenges across health and life sciences.
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Further information on the new funding opportunity, including the application guidance, will be available through the UKRI website.
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The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for regulating all medicines and medical devices in the UK by ensuring they work and are acceptably safe. All our work is underpinned by robust and fact-based judgments to ensure that the benefits justify any risks.
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The MHRA is an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care.
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For media enquiries, please contact the newscentre@mhra.gov.uk, or call on 020 3080 7651.