Letter: Effective funding of medical research

Sir: In his feature on charitable funding of medical research Tom Wilkie gave a misleading impression when he stated:

Before very long nearly two-thirds of British medical research will be commissioned and paid for by charity.

In relation to publicly funded medical research, this statement may be true. In terms of total spending on medical research in this country, however, Dr Wilkie appears to have overlooked the pounds 1.2bn now being spent annually on research and development by British-based medicine manufacturers. This figure contrasts with the quoted figure of pounds 220m spent by the medical research charities in 1990-91.

Yours sincerely,

PETER LUMLEY

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry

London, SW1

16 September