Stephen Metcalfe, local MP for South Basildon and East
Thurrock, rose in the House of Commons last week to ask the Minister for
Universities and Science, David Willets MP, what steps the Government are
taking to speed up the drug development process.
The Governments chief medical officer, Professor Dame Sally
Davies recently published a report in which she referred to the “broken
pipeline” in the development of new drugs and warned of an apocalyptic scenario
of antibiotic resistant disease in the next 20 years.
Mr Metcalfe, who is a member of the House of Commons Science
and Technology Committee, used the opportunity in the House of Commons to get a
Government response to this extremely pressing issue.
In response to Mr Metcalfe’s question, the Minister stated:
“the Secretary of State for Health will, I
understand, be launching an action plan on that particular issue in the spring.
What we are doing in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is
backing investment and ensuring a pipeline of new drugs for the future.”
“That is what the patent box is
about, it is what research and development tax credits are about and it is what
the new biomedical catalyst is about. We can be confident of the support we are
providing for medical research in the UK.”
Mr Metcalfe later commented: “This is an extremely important
issue and one that must be pushed up the Government agenda. I welcome the
Minister’s response and will continue to monitor the situation closely. I will
also continue to champion Professor Dame Sally’s message. We must work to fix
the broken pipeline and this must be done sooner rather than later.”
For more information see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21187559
