Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to commission research into new cardiovascular treatments.

The Government, through the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) is committed to funding high quality, timely research that leads to improved outcomes for patients and the public and makes the health and social care system more efficient, effective, and safe. Research evidence is vital for improving treatments and outcomes for people, including those with cardiovascular disease.

The Department is proud to invest £1.5 billion per year on health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research. Over the past five financial years between 2019/20 and 2023/24, the NIHR has invested £145.4 million on cardiovascular disease and stroke research directly through NIHR research programmes. Our wider investments in NIHR infrastructure, including strengthening specialist facilities, workforce, and support services to enable research in the health and care system, have enabled significant cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke research funded by other funders to take place.

The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including CVD. As with other Government funders of health research, the NIHR does not allocate funding for specific disease areas.