PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(30 January 2025)

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what estimate he has made of the potential cost to the public purse of Government funding for intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy research in financial year 2023-24; and which public bodies provided that funding.

Asked by:
Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative)

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) funds medical research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR funds, enables, and delivers high-quality research to improve patient care and public health and supports liver research through a range of funding programmes, training, support for researchers and facilities.

UKRI delivers a substantial portfolio of researcher-led projects. UKRI’s Medical Research Council also plays a key role in funding underpinning research which may not be attributable to a specific condition but will benefit medical research more generally. UKRI has funded £1,613.772 to the University of College London for a research project into antitrypsin, to form long chains of linked molecules (called "polymers") that are trapped inside liver cells. The build-up of polymers damages the cell and increases the chance of developing liver cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Funding for health-related research is also available through the UK’s association with the Horizon Europe Programme, worth more than £80 billion.

Answered by:
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