Brain research funds crisis: Report

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDJun 16 2011

According to the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology there is a dramatic drop in private and public funding for research in brain diseases that has led to a “withdrawal of hope” for millions of sufferers and could delay the search for treatments and cures by 30 years.

In their report the experts say it was “madness” at a time when the conditions now amounted to the biggest health care problem of the age to see the exodus from the research. They write that the burden of brain diseases on European society now tops £400 Billion a year – but pharmaceutical companies are put off carrying out research because regulations are so tight – and returns so small. It said up to 80% of funding for brain research in Europe had traditionally come from the private sector. They are calling for a greater share of overall public funding for research to go into brain diseases.

The report said it took much longer to develop drugs for mental illness - 13 years on average. Those drugs had a higher failure rate and were harder to get licensed for use, it said. Only one new anti-depressant has been approved in Europe, agomelatine, in the past 10 years.

According to Professor David Nutt, of Imperial College London, the co-author of the report, “It is madness. If we stop this research, there will be a dead space of 20 or 30 years before we can begin to do it again.” Professor Guy Goodwin, of Oxford University, added that red tape was “ridiculous” as trials could take years to get approval.

The report was the result of a summit of more than 60 representatives of governments, universities, the pharmaceutical industry and patient groups. The report suggested ways of encouraging more people to invest, such as increasing the patent length for psychiatric drugs - making them more profitable.

Alastair Benbow, executive director of the European Brain Council, said the report showed the urgency of the region’s funding crisis in neuropsychiatric drug discovery. “If steps aren’t taken now … to stimulate research and investment in both the public and private sector, the field could really suffer lasting damage,” he said.