Stakeholders agree on need for change in medical research
Medical research stakeholders have welcomed the European Medical Research Council (EMRC) White Paper entitled 'Present status and future strategy for medical research in Europe', which states that public spending on medical research should be doubled over the next 10 years. The EMRC had initially launched the document at a meeting between EU Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik and EMRC chairwoman Professor Liselotte Højgaard in December 2007. It has now been debated by the heads of medical research councils in Europe, editors of medical journals, presidents of medical societies and deans of medical faculties at a meeting in Frankfurt, Germany. In addition to the suggestions already incorporated in the White Paper, the stakeholders stressed the significance of the following points in Frankfurt: - Increased funding must be supported by sustainable growth; - Collaboration on big programmes is essential; - Research areas should be determined by health priorities and not only science topics; - Collaboration on an improvement of peer review of grants is essential - and peer reviewers should be acknowledge and rewarded; - MD/PhD programmes are important and should be of high quality; - The best researchers should participate in teaching; - Novel technologies and research infrastructures are important as well as incentives in terms of decent salaries to attract and retain young researchers. The White Paper itself, first and foremost, calls for an increase in public spending on medical research in Europe: in order 'to ensure health and welfare for Europe's citizens and to nurture a thriving European medical research industry', public investment in the area should be doubled over the next 10 years to a minimum of 0.25% of GDP. In 2004, the EU15 spent 0.17%, while in the USA, for instance, the public authorities invested 0.37 to 0.4% of GDP. In addition to the need for more public spending, the analysis of the state of medical research in Europe, which is the basis for the document, finds that there should be greater collaboration between European institutions in medical research and improved career opportunities for researchers. The EMRC also believes that a revision of European medical research directives is required, and that funding should be distributed based on excellence and evaluated by peer review. 'In Europe and in the rest of the world, we are facing rapid changes in society with globalisation, new emerging and rapidly spreading infectious diseases, changed disease patterns with treatment-resistant tuberculosis, rapid and dramatic climate changes and, in Europe, a changed demography with an ageing population,' the White Paper points out. 'Medical research is essential to cope with these future challenges.' The EMRC is an offshoot of the European Science Foundation (ESF) and links all medical research councils in Europe. Seeing itself as the voice of its member organisations and the European scientific community, its aim is to promote medical research and its clinical application, as well as to give strategic advice for science policy-making, research management, ethics and health services.