To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research has been (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated by his Department since July 2000 on the causes of liver disease; when his Department last undertook a review of the causes of liver disease that took into account (i) UK and (ii) international research; and if he will make a statement. (177140)

I have been asked to reply.

The Department provides funding to the Medical Research Council (MRC) for research into human diseases. The MRC does not commission research, but welcomes proposals for research in all areas of its remit. The MRC spent the following amounts on research into liver disease (including hepatitis), including work on the cause of disease:

Three of the Biomedical Research Centres formed and funded by the Department of Health, as part of the implementation of the Government’s research strategy “Best Research for Best Health”, propose to undertake research on the causes, diagnosis and treatment of liver disease. The Department of Health is in addition funding research on the pharmacogenetics of antimicrobial drug-induced liver injury.

In August 2007 the Department of Health commissioned a rapid review of the evidence relating to liver disease epidemiology, treatment and services, so as to help inform decisions on the possibility of developing a strategy for liver disease. The review, completed in December, included the primary causes of liver disease (alcohol misuse, viral hepatitis and obesity), and took into account both UK and international research.