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Medical Research

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, for introducing this debate. Even though I am not involved in the medical sector and am not a scientist, I suggest that none of us can ignore the importance of medical research. The results of medical research have a bearing on our existence from conception to death, and all life in-between. We take it pretty well for granted, and seldom give sufficient thought to the huge and continuing benefits such science-based research has brought to us all. I admit that I was not particularly interested until a mutation in a gene changed the lives of all the members of my family. My immediate family is affected by a rare inherited familial condition known as the Li-Fraumeni syndrome. The condition greatly increases an individual’s risk of developing cancer. Families with this syndrome carry a mutation in a gene for a molecule called p53, an important factor in controlling cell growth, preventing cells from multiplying if their DNA is damaged. When p53 is damaged, cells go on dividing even if their DNA is damaged, and this can result in cancer. Another version of the syndrome carries a fault in a gene called CHK2, known as ““check two””. I think there was a reference to this on the radio yesterday morning. This gene is thought to play a role in repairing damaged DNA. The syndrome can be confirmed by genetic tests for individual genetic faults. Such screening is available as a result of past medical research, and further research in this area has led to programmes being put in place for people from Li-Fraumeni families. They include annual check-ups for children and breast screening from the age of 20. In addition, because of the wide range of cancers that can develop, individuals with the syndrome are urged to discuss any health problems that concern them which last longer than about three weeks. Such programmes are a direct follow-on from the original medical research that discovered the syndrome in the first place. I have gone into a bit of detail on this as it shows just how important it is to continue to support medical research, not only to save lives but also to reduce the huge need for resources required by health providers to cope with the sufferers of this syndrome, for example, if it is not diagnosed before the cancers start multiplying. Sadly, both my young siblings died prematurely, in large measure, I feel, because they were not diagnosed early enough as being Li-Fraumeni syndrome carriers. It is almost certain that it was passed on to them from my mother, who also died of cancer at a very early age, but before genetic testing was developed. Some 40 years ago Li-Fraumeni was not widely known. In the case of one of my nephews, however, I have great hope. The research has progressed so far that he may well avoid the fate that befell his mother, my younger sister. He was diagnosed as having Li-Fraumeni when he developed adrenal cancer at the age of three. He had a torrid time. He lost a kidney, pituitary glands and goodness knows what else. It seemed like a total catastrophe for all those who remained, but now, some 25 years on, he is a healthy Oxford graduate leading a normal life as a father. His life is very little inconvenienced other than by regular medication and regular monitoring. The offspring of my siblings are regularly checked, and the deep anxiety of their possible, if not probable, succumbing to cancer has been lifted. Without medical research, that would not have been the outcome. Cancer affects, or will affect, each one of us, either directly or tangentially through the experiences of close family members, friends or colleagues. Indeed, we have experienced it in this House. When this debate was brought to my attention, my mind quickly turned to the importance of medical research for cancer, for obvious reasons, and the importance of saving lives. I approached Cancer Research UK for background data. That organisation and its predecessors have achieved monumental public awareness of the causes and treatment of cancer. It has certainly lifted the stigma of cancer. No longer is it referred to in whispered tones as ““the big C””, as it was when my mother developed cancer. Cancer Research UK has been at the forefront of focusing on lifestyle changes that we can and must adopt to fight this dastardly disease, and that is also as the result of medical research. I will not be tempted to get into the subject of smoking. Through the activities of Cancer Research UK we are all aware that one in three people will develop cancer at some time in their lives. What we may not know is that half of all cancers are potentially preventable. Without medical research that would never have been the case. Medical research has been responsible for the development of treatments that have helped save thousands of lives, and I believe the UK is the European leader in the development of novel anti-cancer treatments. I have deliberately homed in on just one area where medical research has a huge impact, purely because I have had first-hand experience of both the benefits and the ongoing treatments. I know I have dealt with just a small part of the whole UK medical research picture, and that I have concentrated on applied research. I do not want to be seen as a blinkered, single-subject individual, and I am very aware of the major impact medical research has had on the UK economy. For many years we prided ourselves on being the fourth largest economy in the world. Sadly we have slipped, for reasons known to all of us. However, our ranking in terms of share of citations in biological sciences and pre-clinical and health-related sciences is third in the world and first among the G8 nations. That, by any measure, is a most encouraging achievement when you consider that we have 1 per cent of the world’s population. It shows that we are on the up by comparison with the slippage in overall ratings of world economic success. In the helpful brief produced by Universities UK I was pleased to see—this has already been mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman—that the Government have taken a lead and are to create a single research budget for the Medical Research Council and the NHS R&D programme, amounting to at least £1 billion per annum. I was even more pleased to learn, as the noble Baroness has said, that a very good business friend of mine, Sir David Cooksey, has been appointed to lead a review of the issues and to advise the Government on the best design and institutional arrangements for the new merged fund. That is an excellent choice. He will certainly stop any of the nonsense that tends to creep in when new units are formed, regarding who should be top, second or, indeed, third dog. We have even been promised a date for the publication of the review—next month—and not fobbed off with ““shortly””, ““soon””, or ““as quickly as possible””, which is the normal response to requests for firm timetables. Backing winners has always been a good policy. I hope that the Minister will reaffirm—I am sure that he will—that such is his policy too and that the UK Government will continue to back UK medical research so that it continues to be one of the major players in the international field of medical research.