17m Pound (sterling) Initiative To Evaluate Biomarkers - The Medical Tool Of The Future, UK

Main Category: Public Health News
Article Date: 30 May 2007 - 12:00 PDT
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The Medical Research Council is spearheading 17million pounds' worth of projects into cutting edge indicators of disease, known as biomarkers. These can be used to assess health, monitor disease or determine responsiveness to treatment.

Professor Colin Blakemore, the chief executive of the Medical Research Council explained:

"We've been using cholesterol and blood pressure as indicators or biomarkers of heart disease for years. Now we're going to evaluate promising markers that will speed the development of safer, more effective and better targeted treatments for a range of diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and Parkinson's disease. They will also contribute to the development of new ways to diagnose diseases."

The 18 new projects, 7 of which are supported in partnership with the British Heart Foundation, involve innovative collaborations with industry that should greatly accelerate the translation of scientific knowledge for patient benefit.

This initiative is the culmination of a long-term effort on behalf of the medical research community. It followed an MRC sponsored international conference involving academics, other scientists, regulators and industry, which highlighted the shortage of well-defined biomarkers that can reliably be used in clinical studies.

In total, £8 million has been awarded by MRC and £1million by the British Heart Foundation. The pharmaceutical and biotech industries will contribute another £8 million across the projects, either through direct financial support, the provision of drugs or reagents, the commitment of scientists' time or access to technology. A condition of all the awards is that the results will be freely accessible through publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Professor Colin Blakemore, Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council said:

"The combination of public funding from the Medical Research Council and British Heart Foundation and support from the pharmaceutical industry for these research projects shows how public and private sectors can work together to develop better diagnostic tools as well as to facilitate development of new treatments. These types of collaborations ultimately benefit patients, who will see quicker applications of scientific discoveries. This collaboration is another step toward realising the MRC's vision for better translation of the UK's world-leading basic research."

Dr Annette Doherty, Vice President, Head of Research and Site Leader, Sandwich Laboratories, Pfizer Global Research and Development explained:

''Clearly the fact that the voluntary sector, MRC and industry are working together to support the development of biomarkers and translational medicine is hugely important for the UK and demonstrates the commitment that we have to making the UK a world leader in this critical area of science. Our work together in this exciting area will support the discovery of treatments for areas of unmet clinical need, and reflects the priority given to collaborative working in the recent review of medical research in the UK by Sir David Cooksey. I was delighted to have served as the Chair of this important Biomarkers panel and look forward to continuing to build the translational medicine links between industry and other funders of research for the benefit of patients.''

Tracking the body's response to disease, its progression and the action of medicines using biomarkers is a big growth area in medical research - one that the British Heart Foundation is keen to be involved in. Professor Peter Weissberg, Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said:

"Over recent years, BHF-funded research has helped to establish the link between a number of biomarkers such as high blood pressure and cholesterol and the risk of developing heart disease. However, we still do not have a reliable test to tell us if someone has actually developed atherosclerosis - the accumulation of fatty deposits on the inside of arteries that causes heart attacks and strokes.

"By joining forces with the MRC to bring together charity and publicly funded medical researchers with experts from industry, we hope to accelerate the discovery and application of new and existing biomarkers so that people with life threatening artery disease can be identified and treated before it is too late," he continued.

In response to the project support, Professor Pierluigi Nicotera, Deputy Chair of the Biomarkers Assessment Panel and Director of the MRC Toxicology Unit commented:

''Learning more about how biomarkers can be used as a measure of disease, to identify new therapeutic agents and to assess the safety of new medicines more quickly than has been possible in the past is an excellent way to speed translation of basic scientific knowledge into clinical use. Well-validated biomarkers will also be useful for identifying new chemical compounds for use in medicines and figuring out the best way to apply them therapeutically. We look forward to the outcomes of these research projects in the years to come.''

1. The pharmaceutical industry collaborators are: Abbott Diagnostics, ALK-Abello A/S, AstraZeneca, Athera Biotechnologies AB, Axis Shield Diagnositcs Ltd, Biosite Ltd, Brahms Aktiengesellschaft, Cougar Biotechnology Inc, Gambro Inc, GlaxoSmithKline, Hologic Inc, Mabtech AB, MRSTools Inc, Pfizer, Unilever Corporate Research, Vital Therapies Inc, Waters Corporation, Xenomics Inc and Zyentia Ltd.
2. Grants have been awarded to scientists at the following institutions: Imperial College London, Institute of Cancer Research, Lancaster University, MRC Cancer Cell Unit, Queen's University Belfast, University of Bristol, University of Birmingham, University of Cambridge, University College London, University of Leicester, University of Newcastle, University of Oxford and the University of Sheffield.
3. Please visit the MRC website to view a list of research project titles and principal investigators, Click here
4. The Medical Research Council is dedicated to improving human health through excellent science. It invests on behalf of the UK taxpayer. Its work ranges from molecular level science to public health research, carried out in universities, hospitals and a network of its own units and institutes. The MRC liaises with the Health Departments, the National Health Service and industry to take account of the public's needs. The results have led to some of the most significant discoveries in medical science and benefited the health and wealth of millions of people in the UK and around the world. www.mrc.ac.uk
5. The British Heart Foundation is the nation's heart charity, dedicated to saving lives through pioneering research, patient care, campaigning for change and by providing vital information. But we urgently need help. We rely on donations of time and money to continue our live saving work. Because together we can beat heart disease. For more information visit www.bhf.org.uk