Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to encourage its EU counterparts to increase support for global health research and development.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills supports research in this area through the UK Research Councils, which fund a strong portfolio addressing global health.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) currently leads the UK delegation for the Horizon 2020 Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing Challenge. This involves inputting into and approving the content of Health Challenge calls, working in conjunction with representatives from other EU member states. Horizon 2020 is the current EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. It brings together European Commission research and innovation funding, including the Framework Programme for Research, the innovation related activities of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology.

The UK, through the MRC and the Department for International Development, is a member of and contributes funding to, the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), which aims to accelerate the development of new or improved drugs, vaccines, microbicides and diagnostics against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other neglected diseases. In December 2014 the second phase of the partnership, EDCTP2, was launched, with funding of over 1billion euros over the next 10 years from the European Union, the Participating States and third parties. The General Assembly of the EDCTP is currently chaired by the MRC. Further information can be found at: http://www.edctp.org/