Heart Diseases: Research
(asked on 23rd January 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much funding the Government provided for research into coronary heart disease in the 2023-24 financial year; and which public bodies provided that funding.
Answered by
Feryal Clark
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) funds medical research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Between 2019/20 – 2023/24, the NIHR has invested £145.4 million on cardiovascular disease and stroke research directly through NIHR research programmes.
UKRI delivers a substantial portfolio of researcher-led projects. UKRI’s Medical Research Council (MRC) also plays a key role in funding underpinning research which may not be attributable to a specific condition but will benefit medical research more generally.
In 2024 MRC established a new Centre of Research Excellence (MRC CoRE), co-funded with the British Heart Foundation (BHF) called the MRC/BHF CoRE in Advanced Cardiac Therapies, which will receive up to £50 million over 14 years. The Centre will focus on developing gene therapies for heart disease, including aiming to develop the first therapies to stimulate heart repair and regeneration. The new MRC CoRE funding model aims to support transformative approaches in biomedical and health research.
Details of UKRI and NIHR funding on specific areas is provided in the table below:
| NIHR funding in FY 2023/24 | UKRI Funding in FY 2023/24 |
Hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy | NIHR did not commit any specific funding for obstructive cardiomyopathy research in the 2023-24. | UKRI did not commit any specific funding for obstructive cardiomyopathy research in 2023-24. |
dilated cardiomyopathy research | NIHR did not commit any specific funding for dilated cardiomyopathy research in 2023-24. | The total commitment across UKRI in 2023-24 for dilated cardiomyopathy research was £1,450,025 for 2 awards (1 award from MRC; 1 award from centrally managed UKRI schemes). |
valvular disease research | NIHR allocated £4,535,107 for research concerning valvular disease research in 2023-24. | The total commitment across UKRI in 2023-24 for valvular disease research was £207,336 for 1 award (from MRC). |
myocarditis | NIHR did not commit any specific funding for myocarditis research in 2023-24. | UKRI did not commit any specific funding for Myocarditis research in 2023-24. |
heart failure research | NIHR allocated £41,442,113 research concerning heart failure research in 2023-24. | The total commitment across UKRI in 2023-24 for heart failure research was £9,893,934 for 20 awards (8 awards from Innovate UK; 4 awards from MRC, 8 awards from centrally managed UKRI schemes, etc), including investigations using AI techniques to develop personalised treatments for heart failure. |
congenital heart disease | NIHR allocated £1,227,966 research concerning congenital heart disease research in 2023-24. | The total commitment across UKRI in 2023-24 for congenital heart disease research was £597,157 for 1 award (from BBSRC). |
coronary heart disease | NIHR allocated £10,722,571 research concerning coronary heart disease research in 2023-24. | The total commitment across UKRI in 2023-24 for coronary heart disease research was £2,234,898 for 3 awards (2 awards from Innovate UK; 1 award from EPSRC). |
ST-elevation myocardial infarction | NIHR did not commit any specific funding for ST-elevation myocardial infarction research in 2023-24. | UKRI did not commit any specific funding for ST-elevation myocardial infarction research in 2023-24. |
non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction | NIHR did not commit any specific funding for non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction research in 2023-24. | UKRI did not commit any specific funding for non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction research in 2023-24. |
heart block | NIHR allocated £24,667,421 for research concerning heart block in 2023-24. | UKRI did not commit any specific funding for non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction research in 2023-24. |
atrial fibrillation | NIHR allocated £3,270,356 for research concerning atrial fibrillation in 2023-24. | The total commitment across UKRI in 2023-24 for atrial fibrillation research was £6,799,271 for 8 awards (1 award from Innovate UK; 2 awards from EPSRC, 5 awards from centrally managed UKRI schemes). |
hypertension | NIHR allocated £30,552,736 for research concerning hypertension in 2023-24. | The total commitment across UKRI in 2023-24 for hypertension research was £8,311,971 for 12 awards (1 award from Innovate UK; 5 awards from MRC, 6 awards from centrally managed UKRI schemes) including the investigation of medical devices for remote monitoring. |
aortic aneurysm | NIHR allocated £2,833,223 for research concerning aortic aneurysm in 2023-24. | The total commitment across UKRI in 2023-24 for aortic aneurysm research was £1,470,668 for 2 awards (1 award from Innovate UK; 1 award from centrally managed UKRI schemes) |
aortic dissection | NIHR allocated £2,833,223 research concerning aortic dissection research in financial year 2023-24. | UKRI did not commit any specific funding for aortic dissection research in 2023-24. |