The Medical Research Council (MRC) and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca (AZ) have partnered to provide six MRC clinical fellows with industry placement opportunities for clinical research.
As part of AZ’s BioPharmaceuticals Research and Development (R&D) business, the partnership aims to help the UK further foster clinical research.
Currently, in the UK, the number of academic clinicians within the health system is predicted to decline and could make future clinical research more challenging.
The scheme aims to provide currently MRC-funded clinically active healthcare professionals the opportunity to advance by further building regulatory experience and clinical processes involved in new medicines to strengthen their ability to lead future translational clinical trials.
In addition, the partnership will support career development by fostering skills and knowledge in good clinical practice and will equip individuals to lead translational clinical trials in either an academic or industry environment.
Furthermore, the scheme will provide long-term benefits to the UK’s clinical trials and research landscape while supporting the development of new medicines.
Dr David Pan, head of programme, training and careers at MRC, commented: “This new partnership… provides an exciting opportunity for MRC clinical fellows to gain knowledge and experience” and “will… help to support the development of future therapeutics”.
Jacqueline Hall, head of early careers, BioPharmaceuticals R&D at AZ, said: “This is an exciting opportunity to strengthen the future talent pool and wider scientific skills environment in the UK.
“Strengthening the connections between industry and the UK research community has enormous mutual benefits for academia, industry, the health system and ultimately, patients.”
In April, the £8.2m MRC Medicines Development Fellowship programme was announced to strengthen interactions between academia and industry to deliver world-class medicine development.
Led by the University of Liverpool in partnership with Queen Mary University London, the University of Glasgow and Manchester, the programme was co-funded and supported by GSK and AZ, in addition to Optum UK and Hammersmith Medicines Research.