Launched yesterday (Wednesday 13 December) by Innovate UK, the
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has
joined partners across government including the Office for Life
Sciences to provide support and invite academic institutions in
the UK to apply to become a member of an RSIN.
In a drive to proactively deliver agile and robust regulatory
pathways and guidance to support the innovators of today and
tomorrow, the MHRA has helped shape the design of this programme
with partners across government, which will enable research
informing the future of UK regulatory practice.
Applications can be made through UKRI’s Innovation
Funding Service.
Dr June Raine, MHRA Chief Executive, said:
As a forward-thinking, agile, and enabling regulator in today’s
fast-paced environment, we must get ready for the innovations of
tomorrow.
This initiative, the first-of-its-kind, is a fantastic
opportunity for academic institutions in the UK to be at the
cutting edge of life sciences research and the future of
regulation.
Through collaboration with our world-leading academic
institutions and partners across government, we can reinforce the
UK as a global centre for innovators to develop and launch new
medical products.
Dr Lisa Hazelden, Innovate UK’s Chief Product Officer,
said:
Innovate UK is delighted to announce the first ‘Discovery Phase’
of its UK Regulatory Science and Innovation Networks programme.
This ground-breaking initiative will fund up to 30 collaborations
of businesses, academic institutions and other organisations from
across the regulatory science and innovation ecosystem.
These organisations will explore how networks in their sectors
can deliver evidence-based insights, enabling the UK’s regulatory
landscape for innovative emerging technologies to have even
greater impact for our UK economy.
The programme comprises two phases. Firstly, an open competition
for a six-month Discovery Phase in which funding will be awarded
to initial collaborations to build relationships and support
exploratory work to develop full applications. This will be
followed by the Implementation Phase, in which Discovery Phase
collaborations will be invited to apply for full funding to
establish their RSIN.
Further details on the Implementation Phase will be shared with
applicants at an MHRA event following the Discovery Phase. The
MHRA will also be providing support to members of health and life
sciences themed RSIN members throughout the process.
Institutions interested in applying can join an online Innovate
UK applicant briefing event via the competition
page for more information – including eligibility
requirements and the application process – and priority themes
from vaccines and immunotherapies to AI and diagnostics.
Roz Campion, Office for Life Sciences Director,
said:
As the life sciences sector creates more cutting-edge products,
the UK life sciences regulatory system needs to adapt to ensure
that these products reach clinicians and patients as safely and
quickly as possible.
RSINs will make a fantastic contribution to this, and it is a
demonstration of how we can implement the recommendations of Dame
Angela McLean’s Pro-innovation Regulation of Technologies Review
of the life sciences.
The Life Sciences Vision highlights the importance of close
collaboration across our regulatory system. RSINs will foster
that collaboration and will help to build a strong talent pool
across industry, academia and government. This will ensure that
the skills are in place for our regulatory system to support
innovation in the life sciences sector.
