The Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) has warned that the UK's competitive advantage in medical science is reliant on a government commitment to maintaining a thriving publicly funded research base.
Any cuts risk damaging the UK's rich landscape of medical research funders and would jeopardise the private and charitable funding leveraged by public spending, the organisation claims.
In a submission prepared for government in the build up to the next spending review, the academy warns that it would be a mistake to believe that industry and charities could simply fill the gap if public sector funding were reduced.
Investment in biomedical science has helped the UK to create one of the most significant and productive sectors in the UK economy after financial services.
In addition to public funding, each year medical charities invest GBP1.1bn in UK health research and every GBP1 increase in public funding stimulates up to GBP5 investment into research by the pharmaceutical industry.
As well as leveraging this increased investment, close funding relationships between academia, industry and the charity sector ensure that the outcomes of publicly funded medical research are quickly translated in to actual health and wealth benefits.
The submission urges the government to make a long term commitment across the science base to retain increasingly mobile researchers and industries about the future of medical research in the UK.
It recommends publishing a new science framework in the context of the current economic climate, which should: prioritise excellence; safeguard the UK's world-class universities; protect the autonomy of universities and research councils; focus on reversibility to maintain capability to regenerate key areas when funding becomes available; maintain and grow the essential partnerships between public, private and charity-sector funders; and ensure limited funds are spent effectively by promoting coordination amongst funders and reducing unnecessary bureaucracy.
The spending review submission was accompanied by a paper detailing how biomedical research can be a platform for increasing health and wealth in the UK that was prepared at the request of David Willetts MP, minister of state for science and universities.
It highlights how, if properly supported, medical research will create new jobs, catalyse sustained economic growth and help to restore public finances by improving health and making the NHS and public services more cost effective.
