Coronavirus could cause generation of medical research to be lost

A number of charities have warned that the discovery of new cancer treatments could be delayed, research institutes shut, and a whole generation of upcoming scientists lost because of a funding crisis in medical research.

The pandemic has caused fundraising to plummet, with events cancelled and charity shops closed because of the government-enforced lockdown. This has created a dire financial situation that could have a severe impact on research crucial to finding new ways to diagnose, manage and treat diseases from cancer to neurological conditions and heart disease.

The Association of Medical Research Charities has claimed that the government’s recent £750 million charity support package does not provide cash for medical research.

The AMRC and its 151 member organisations, including Parkinson’s UK, the British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK, are calling on the government to set up a 'life sciences-charity partnership fund' to support research that, they stress, saves lives.

The proposed scheme would be a matched funding programme, lasting at least three years, with the government contributing £310 million over the financial year 2020-21 to bridge the funding shortfall from medical research charities.

Cancer Research UK is expecting a 30 per cent drop in income this year because of coronavirus, meaning research funding could be cut by £150 million a year. Likewise, the British Heart Foundation is currently losing £10 million a month and is facing an unprecedented research funding crisis.