Advancing medicine, changing lives - Medical Research Council

Introduction
from the MRC Chief Executive, Sir John Savill
Welcome to the MRC Annual Review 2011/12, which gives an insight into some of our scientists’
many research achievements from the past year.
This year’s review is all about the impact that MRC-funded science makes on our health, the
economy and society.
We hear from Dr Cari Free, whose Txt2stop mobile phone support programme, trialled with MRC
funding and launched earlier this year, is now helping thousands of people to give up smoking.
And you can read about Professor Alasdair MacLullich’s MRC-supported invention of a device for
detecting delirium, a condition which carries a high risk of dementia and death in the elderly,
which is now being commercialised.
2011/12 was my first full year as Chief Executive of the MRC, and I have recently been taking stock of
some of the MRC’s broader scientific and strategic achievements and impacts from the past year.
Scientifically, a key focus has been on harnessing the power of electronic NHS patient data for
research to secure the UK’s future as a world leader in this field and reap benefits for human health.
Recently we jointly invested £17 million with the nine biggest government and charity funders in the
UK to link electronic health records with research data to unlock its enormous research value. The
impact of this is unlikely to be felt for some years, but you can read about the huge value of research
involving patient data within these pages – for example, a study of samples from hospital patients
has revealed a new gene variant which could help explain why flu becomes a life-threatening disease
in some people while only having mild effects in others.
“This year’s review
is all about the
impact that
MRC-funded
science makes
on our health,
the economy
and society.”
Strategically, working with industry has always been a priority for the MRC because commercial
investment is crucial for turning our scientists’ discoveries into benefits for patients. In 2011/12 we
further stepped up our collaboration with industry. We worked with the Government’s Technology
Strategy Board to launch the £180m Biomedical Catalyst, which will support productive academicindustry
partnerships to bring medical advances to patients faster. And we entered a landmark £10m
collaboration with AstraZeneca to give MRC scientists access to 22 of the company’s compounds to
advance our understanding of a broad range of diseases.
Throughout this year’s review you will see examples of how MRC research has underpinned the
development of drugs, devices and diagnostics by the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries
– from successful clinical trials of a therapy for heart attack patients to early development of drugs
for age-related macular degeneration.
Our discoveries are all about collaboration – not just with industry, but also with universities and
charities and with the public, who volunteer for our research studies and whose taxes pay for our
scientists’ world-class research. Ultimately, MRC research is about changing people’s lives. I hope you
enjoy reading about some of the amazing MRC discoveries from the past year which will impact on
our health, economy and society.