The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is funding a wide range of epilepsy research including aspects relevant to premature death and to treatment. The University College London Hospital’s Biomedical Research Centre is active in this field and the Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre is also undertaking some relevant research.
The NIHR has awarded a programme grant for applied research on defining priorities and communicating evidence about benefit and harm of interventions for people with epilepsy. Currently funded NIHR projects include:
relative efficacy and cost-effectiveness of different treatment approaches currently used in the management of epilepsy in people with a learning disability; and
pharmacogenetics of GABAergic mechanisms of benefit and harm in epilepsy.
The Department is providing national health service support for epilepsy trials and studies through the Clinical Research Network for England. Details are given on the United Kingdom Clinical Research Network Portfolio Database which is available at:
www.pfsearch.ukcrn.org.uk/.
The Medical Research Council (MRC) is one of the main agencies through which the Government support medical and clinical research. The MRC is an independent body which receives its grant in aid from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.
The MRC’s spend on research related to epilepsy was £4.9 million in 2006-07.