Summary

• Medical research charities have suffered financial strain during the coronavirus pandemic as they could not do fundraising.
• Medical research charities are facing a funding gap of £310 million and the pharmaceutical industry has pleaded the government to assist the medical research charities that work with it to fund and develop drugs.
• In 2019, medical research charities spent £1.9 billion to carry out various research activities for life sciences.

The medical research charities have suffered during the coronavirus pandemic due to a substantial fall in their income that comes from fundraising. This year there has been a gap of £310 million and since April 2020 many of the medical research charities have been requesting the government to provide them with support packages for continuing their activities.

Pharma industry requests the government to support medical charities

A group of around 30 pharmaceutical companies have come together to request the UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson to close the funding gap faced by the medical charities that associate with the industry to fund and develop drugs. Besides filling the current gap of £310 million, the pharmaceutical industry additionally requested the government for more funding support to the medical charities over the next couple of years.

Some of these companies comprise of Novartis, Astrazeneca, Roche, and Pfizer, who are leading the race to develop drug and vaccine for Covid-19 have written to the PM for taking critical and necessary steps so that the medical charities keep continuing their contributions towards life sciences in Britain. The communication sent to the PM is important as it has been sent before the government comes up with its funding related announcements in Autumn 2020. It mentioned that the industry is waiting to see the government’s stand on the prospects of the medical research charities.

As per the letter, the medical charities are facing a problem to raise money for their work. In 2019, they spent £1.9 billion to carry out various research activities for life sciences. The amount pumped in various research activities since 2008 is estimated at around £14 billion. Medical charities doing research activities generally invest resources in early stage research that helps to substantially mitigate the risk in the domain and promote investment by the industry in future. It also supports several young scientists by helping them in their career building aspects.

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The letter acknowledged the government’s intentions of keeping research and development (R&D) at the centre of Britain’s economic and social recovery process. It stated that by safeguarding the works of medical charities, the government could support towards developing some premium research, infrastructure, advance techniques, and skills that could benefit the country’s economy in the long-term.

The support to the medical charities during the coronavirus pandemic holds significance as medicine and treatment for the infectious disease is the focus of almost every government around the world. It is known that the UK government has provided some vital support to other lead British charities, universities, and businesses.

What do the leading associations say?

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), one of the signatory to the letter sent to the PM highlighted that it is important to have a close coordination between the industry, medical charities, academic institutions, and National Health Service (NHS) for achieving any breakthrough in research. The association said that it is crucial to help the country’s medical charities involved in research during these tough times to fulfill Britain’s long-term ambitions in the domain of life sciences. The ABPI aims to make Britain a best place in the world to research, develop, and use new medicines.

The Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC), another institution which signed the letter, pointed out that the medical charities are suffering, and the government is yet to offer any required measures. The AMRC stressed that the association intends to partner the government rather than seeking a bailout package. Several medical research charities have been facing the difficult situation of cutting on their research budgets.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the UK government has provided an emergency funding of £750 million to the charity sector. The government has been collaborating with the medical charities doing research activities to comprehend the pandemic’s impacts as well as charting out ways to work together and derive benefits from charity-funded research for the patients.

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Some recent impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on medical research charities

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the key medical research charities in the UK. The Cancer Research UK has recently announced that it has deducted around £150 million from its annual research funding budget. Cancer Research UK aims to carry out pioneering research to reach a time when all types of cancers are cured. It undertakes fund raising activities for its projects, scientists, doctors and nurses to help beat cancer, besides providing cancer-related crucial information to the public in general.

Observing that any data could not notice the full impact of decreasing the research budgets, the Brain Tumour Research said that the value of research cuts is difficult to measure as it is hope. A member of the AMRC, the Brain Tumour Research works on its vision to find a cure for brain tumours. In addition, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) with a vision of a world free from heart and circulatory diseases known to fund various related research activities has also reduced its research spending, besides announcing some job cuts.

Sector experts are of opinion that medical research charities that are forced to slash their research budgets would be able to recover to normal levels only after around four years. According to sector estimates five out of 152 medical research charities are entitled or qualified for the charity support funding provisions by the government. The AMRC said that since the pandemic began in March 2020, more than 50 per cent of total clinical trials and studies that are carried out with the funding support provided by independent charities have either been halted or cancelled. The association also stated that as per its recent poll, the overall amount spent are likely to fall by 41 per cent, due to half of all clinical trials and studies funded being put on hold or outrightly cancelled.

The coronavirus-induced lockdown leading to the shutdown of charity shops in the high street, cancellation of sector events, and unwillingness of donors to give money due to the crisis were some of the major factors that affected the charities.

Request from political corridors to support the medical research charities

In early August 2020, Chi Onwurah, Labour’s Shadow Science Minister had also urged the government to offer funding support to medical research charities. Onwurah emphasised that since only 3 per cent of the medical research charities could access the government’s support, several vital research activities are being put off and many jobs are at risk. The minister cautioned that since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the funding has dropped by approximately 40 per cent.

Conclusion

Britain has been receiving substantial gains from the works undertaken by medical research charities. Besides the advancements in treatment or medicine related benefits, the research done by the medical charities helps the pharmaceutical industry a lot. During these times of crisis, when the sector is facing hardships in raising money to fund its projects, the government should intervene to cater to their needs and address the worries of reduced research job cuts. Experts agree that while the government support would lead a long way in the field of medicines and life sciences, any denial would lead to huge implications by losing out on the good work carried out by the medical research charities.