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.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/mhra-supports-launch-of-innovate-uks-first-of-its-kind-initiative-to-fund-new-regulatory-science-and-innovation-networks