I hope those MPs who have yet to decide how to vote in tomorrow's parliamentary debate on the statutory instrument on mitochnodrial donation - 'three-person babies' - will take a few minutes to listen to Sharon Bernardi in this BBC News report from the weekend. Sharon has lost seven children to mitochonria disease and her appeal for this legislation... Continue Reading →
Blog: We have the public to thank for this week’s well-informed decisions in health research
We have had two pieces of good news about health research of patient benefit this week. First, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued new guidance saying that tamoxifen or raloxifene taken daily for five years can cut breast cancer risk by 40%. This means women at risk of developing breast cancer have... Continue Reading →
‘Best left alone’ is not the motto we want for our health regulators
It being half-term you can never have enough travel games on hand. Current favourites for me are: a) guessing who will be the new Director of the Wellcome Trust and; b) thinking of a name for the body created if you merged all the current Research Councils into one. I did apply for the former... Continue Reading →
Further thoughts on a single regulator for research
Mid-summer it might be, but my sense is that the prospect of a single regulator for research continues to be the leading topic of debate around and about the community (after the Comprehensive Spending Review of course). My office brought to my attention this series of comment pieces about a single regulator and its impact... Continue Reading →
A new regulator for UK medical research
MPs will break up tomorrow for the summer holidays. The last days of term have always been busy ones for Government for as long as I can remember with their slew of announcements and a general clearing of the decks. So it was today. We saw a further two follow-up papers to the Health White Paper published... Continue Reading →
