Simpson, CR;
Beever, D;
Challen, K;
De Angelis, D;
Fragaszy, E;
Goodacre, S;
Hayward, A;
... Knight, M; + view all
(2019)
The UK’s pandemic influenza research portfolio: a model for future research on emerging infections.
The Lancet Infectious Diseases
, 19
(8)
e295-e300.
10.1016/S1473-3099(18)30786-2.
Preview |
Text
Fragaszy_301118 Pandemic flu studies commentary V6 clean.pdf - Accepted Version Download (463kB) | Preview |
Abstract
The 2009 A/H1N1 influenza pandemic was responsible for considerable global morbidity and mortality. In 2009, UK funders, including the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) rapidly funded and activated a number of research studies to inform clinical and public health actions. However, even with accelerated processes, some studies were completed too late for their results to have an early and significant impact on clinical care. This was in contrast to a study funded separately in 2008, which was published within a matter of weeks after the first two cases of 2009 A/H1N1 influenza virus infection were detected in the UK. In recognition of the impact of the NIHR-funded 2009 A/H1N1 influenza work and following reflection on the inherent delays in calling for research proposals, assessing, funding, and setting up the subsequent projects, including obtaining relevant ethical and regulatory approvals, the NIHR funded a second wave of studies in 2012. Our portfolio of projects have now been set-up (relevant permissions put in place, arrangements made for data collection) and pilot tested where relevant. All studies are now in ‘hibernation’ - that is, they have been put on standby mode in a maintenance-only state to await activation in the event of a pandemic being declared. In this thought piece, we describe the projects that were set up, the challenges of putting these projects into hibernation, on-going activities to maintain readiness for activation, and discuss how we think about planning research for a range of major incidents (e.g. other emerging infectious diseases, chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) risks, extreme weather events or industrial accidents).
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
