Europe and the century of biomedical discovery and implementation (2011)

Research in the UK1Health Economics Research Group, Office of Health Economics, RAND EuropeMedical research: what's it worth? Estimating the economic benefits from medical research in the UK. UK Evaluation Forum, London2008Google Scholar suggests that investment in medical research delivered a return of 39%, in perpetuity. As the European Commission's independent advisory board on health research, we call with this letter for more and better investment in health research. In Europe we face an ageing population, obesity, diabetes, increasing mental health disorders and neurodegenerative diseases, rising allergic disease, and a continuing fight against rare diseases and the big killers, cancer and cardiac disease. On the horizon are climate change and a rapid spread of infectious disease. We need more and better medical research to overcome these challenges in the most rational, evidence-based, and cost-effective way. US investment in biomedical research as a proportion of gross domestic product is almost three times higher than that in Europe,1Health Economics Research Group, Office of Health Economics, RAND EuropeMedical research: what's it worth? Estimating the economic benefits from medical research in the UK. UK Evaluation Forum, London2008Google Scholar and the USA leads the world in high-impact medical research publication. Competition from China, India, Brazil, and Russia, as well as Singapore and South Korea, is intensifying. Put simply, Europe cannot afford continued underinvestment. Europe has the infrastructure and competence to distribute research funding by a fair peer-review system based on quality and scientific integrity. We know how to do biomedical research of the highest standard. We therefore present ten recommendations to achieve this (panel), for patients and societies in Europe and the rest of the world.PanelRecommendations for improving Europe's profile in biomedical discovery•Increase biomedical research investment. Funding biomedical research will help Europe overcome its financial crisis.•The share of European Framework Programme for biomedical research should reflect the biomedical fraction of the European Research Area (35%).•Increase and improve the teaching of biomedicine.•Develop career structures to recover young talent from the USA and elsewhere.•Create research professorships for MDs and PhDs.•Make a “medical researcher passport” for easy mobility.•Reinforce infrastructure for biomedical research through the ESFRI initiatives.•Minimise the administrative burden for clinical trials, in particular multinational and investigator-driven clinical trials.•Create funding and reward systems for small and medium-sized enterprises to strengthen research-based innovation.•Implement regulations that prevent the shelving of inventions funded by the EU.ESFRI=European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures. •Increase biomedical research investment. Funding biomedical research will help Europe overcome its financial crisis.•The share of European Framework Programme for biomedical research should reflect the biomedical fraction of the European Research Area (35%).•Increase and improve the teaching of biomedicine.•Develop career structures to recover young talent from the USA and elsewhere.•Create research professorships for MDs and PhDs.•Make a “medical researcher passport” for easy mobility.•Reinforce infrastructure for biomedical research through the ESFRI initiatives.•Minimise the administrative burden for clinical trials, in particular multinational and investigator-driven clinical trials.•Create funding and reward systems for small and medium-sized enterprises to strengthen research-based innovation.•Implement regulations that prevent the shelving of inventions funded by the EU. ESFRI=European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures. Members of the European Commission Science Advisory Board in Health are: José Baselga, Daniel Brasseur, Teresa Brodniewicz-Proba, Julio Celis, Francisco Fernandez-Aviles, Enrico Garaci, Susan Gasser, Liselotte Højgaard (Chair), Josef Jiricny, Marie-Paule Kieny, Jacek Kuznicki, Iain Mattaj, Anders Olauson, Asla Pitkanan, Hans Schöler, Gyula Soltesz, Hermona Soreq, Vappu Taipale, and Domenica Taruscio. We declare that we have no conflicts of interest. European societies form biomedical allianceA new European alliance of biomedical researchers has been launched to boost research funding and keep Europe competitive as China's research investment soars. Tony Kirby reports. Full-Text PDF