Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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740. To ask the Minister for Health the amount of funding the Government contributes to medicines research and development annually; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46479/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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My Department supports health research through the Health Research Board (HRB). The HRB is the lead agency in Ireland supporting and funding health research and generating information and evidence to inform health policy and practice. The HRB’s budget is in the region of €40m per annum.

Medicines research and development, which is funded by the HRB, encompasses a wide range of research projects, including in respect of the research and development aspects of both therapeutics and diagnostics. It involves research on existing therapies and on potential diagnostic or therapeutic targets, including medicinal, stem cell, immunological, vaccines and bioactives research.

HRB funded researchers are interested in potential therapeutic targets and early stage therapies for a range of diseases, or in discovering and validating biomarkers of disease or stratifying patients according to therapeutic response. This research explores potential therapeutics or therapeutic approaches across a broad range of diseases. In relation to development research, the HRB fund principal investigator led clinical trials of medicinal products for a smaller range of diseases through Cancer Trials Ireland (CTI), and within the HRB Clinical Trials Facilities which are supported by the Trials Methodology Research Network and the Statistics and Data Management Office, both located at NUI Galway. These initiatives also conduct industry-led clinical trials. The HRB Clinical Research Coordination Ireland acts as a sign-posting service to industry sponsors seeking to recruit Irish patients to multi-centre trials.

The HRB has informed my Department that between 2007 and to date in 2017 it has provided over €91m in active award commitments in this overall context. The table gives a breakdown for each year since 2007.

Health research projects in Ireland can also take place in other fora such as universities and hospitals. Information on these research projects and their expenditure levels would not be routinely collected by my Department. The Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation may fund research relevant to the Deputy's question through its agencies - Science Foundation Ireland and Enterprise Ireland.

Finally, clinical trials of medicines in Ireland are also sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry.

Type of therapy or potential therapy - HRB Active award commitments