Birmingham has won a £12.8m share of a £100m fund to develop new treatments to benefit thousands of patients, the Government announced today.

The money, provided by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), will be spent on research nurses, technicians and facilities at 19 of the purpose-built Clinical Research Facilities labs around the UK.

A huge number of new treatments for conditions including cancer, diabetes, stroke, dementia and obesity will be developed by researchers at the labs. Some of the funding will also be used to conduct research into rare diseases.

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) has been awarded £12,812,956 from 1 September 2012 to 31 March 2017. This award includes some existing support to the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility, which is a joint initiative between the Trust, University of Birmingham Medical School and Birmingham Children’s Hospital NHS Trust.

The funding, which is contracted with UHB, will be used to conduct research into rare diseases, gene therapy, trauma, infection and ageing. The team at Birmingham will also use the Health Research Bus, which takes research into the community and allows studies to be conducted with difficult-to-reach sections of the population.

Dame Julie Moore, UHB Chief Executive, said: “The CRF provides unrivalled facilities for experimental medicine as the main platform to deliver early-phase, cutting-edge translational research in Birmingham. To date, our combined facilities have seen over 70,000 patients in 350 clinical research studies. Importantly, the Birmingham CRF has been a flagship for many subsequent CRFs across the UK that collaborate to deliver NHS research priorities. 

"This new funding will be transformational in ensuring we deliver increased quality and quantity of early phase clinical research, engaging with industry, be it early biotechnology discovery or major established Pharma to rapidly accelerate advances in medicine and to improve the health of the population of Birmingham and beyond.”

The first ever UK consultation on rare diseases was published yesterday which outlines how we can build on our strengths through improved co-ordination of services, stronger research and better engagement with patients and their families.

Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley said: “The public and patients think it’s important that the NHS should support research into new treatments, and we agree. That’s why we’re investing over £100m in research labs, nurses and technicians to help make the NHS a world-class place to do research.

“These researchers will push forward the boundaries of what is possible. These are the people and the labs where the very best new treatments will be developed for a huge range of conditions - from cancer to diabetes and heart disease. NHS patients are the ones who will see the benefit of their work.”

Promoting and fostering this kind of medical research is one of the Government’s top priorities, and through the Health and Social Care Bill the role that research plays in the health service will continue to be strengthened.

Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Advisor at the Department of Health said: “These are very exciting times for clinical research in the UK, and this funding is a reflection of the commitment we have to supporting world-class experimental medicine.

“The Clinical Research Facilities will play a key role in supporting advances in treatments for a wide variety of diseases and supporting collaboration with industry. Thousands of people will benefit right across the country.”