§ Mr. AmessTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Medical Research Council has identified 1097W rheumatoid arthritis as a priority area; and how much of its resources are going into (a) research programmes and (b) projects related to this disease. [186279]
§ Ms HewittI have been asked to reply.
Arthritis and rheumatism is one of 12 disease specific research divisions of the Medical Research Council (MRC).
The MRC spent £6.8 million in the FY 2002–03, on research into arthritis and rheumatism and much of this will be relevant to rheumatoid arthritis.
§ Mr. AmessTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Government supports the inclusion of rheumatoid arthritis as a priority of research area in the next EU framework programme. [186284]
§ Dr. LadymanThe Government has recently consulted on the European Union seventh research and development framework programme. Details are available on the Office of Science and Technology (OST) website at http://www.ost.gov.uk/ ostinternational/fp7/index.html. Initial feedback will be published on the OST website shortly.
The Government plans to produce a position paper on the seventh framework programme in early Autumn 2004. That paper will also be published on the OST website.