Realising the Value of Medical Research: Health and Economic Benefits

OHE’s Jon Sussex is spoke today on the value of medical research at the 2013 BioWales conference, one of the UK’s largest life sciences conferences. Celebrating its eleventh year, this conference focuses on the links between NHS, industry and academia in delivering tomorrow’s health solutions. Jon’s presentation examined the value of medical research, which involves all three sectors in the UK: public, private and charity.

OHE’s Jon Sussex is spoke today on the value of medical research at the 2013 BioWales conference, one of the UK’s largest life sciences conferences. Celebrating its eleventh year, this conference focuses on the links between NHS, industry and academia in delivering tomorrow’s health solutions.

Jon’s presentation examined the value of medical research, which involves all three sectors in the UK: public, private and charity. Despite concerns to the contrary, the three do not compete but act synergistically, with combined spending totalling some £8 billion per year. The gains for health care from medical research, while very good, may take years to realise: an earlier analysis by OHE, with Brunel University and RAND Europe, estimates an average time lag of 10-25 years. Economic returns, which also are substantial, are realised sooner than health benefits. Health and economic benefits both can be increased by reducing time lags in research and development and speeding up the NHS’s currently slow rate rate of uptake of the results of research.  

Related research available on the OHE website

HERG, OHE and RAND Europe. (2008) Medical research: what’s it worth? London: Office of Health Economics.

Mestre-Ferrandiz, J., Mordoh, A. and Sussex, J. (2012) The many faces of innovation. Second edition. London: Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry.

OHE and RAND Europe. (2010) Enhancing the benefits from biomedical and health research spillovers. Occasional Paper. London: Office of Health Economics.