Today, AMRC is a co-signatory of a joint letter to the health secretary Andrew Lansley, asking him to press ahead with developing the regulations to license techniques to prevent the hereditary transmission of mitochondrial disease in clinical treatments.

Current legislation allows research into this procedure. Earlier this year Andrew Lansley asked the HFEA’s Scientific and Clinical Advances Committee to report on the research in this area, informing him on the safety and effectiveness of these methods.

Mutations in mitochondrial DNA can lead to people suffering disabling and potentially fatal symptoms including, blindness, organ failure, muscular weakness, learning disability and diabetes. Research offers considerable promise to people who are at risk of passing serious mitochondrial disorders on to their children.

We are concerned that translation of this research into treatments to help those at risk of passing on mitochondrial disease to have healthy children is not unduly delayed by the process of developing regulations in parliament.

It is difficult to justify funding the additional research required to prove this technique without the assurance that successful outcomes can be quickly introduced into the clinic.

AMRC’s chair Lord Willis, commented:

“Given the current confusion over the future of the HFEA and the setting up of the new Health Research Agency, it is important that the government presses ahead with developing the regulatory framework to enable UK medical science to maximise its progress in this area and ensure UK patients can benefit from research conducted here.”

We are now waiting to hear from the government how they plan to act on the HFEA's report; whether they plan to begin the process of developing regulations to allow treatments using this technique to be licensed.

19 April 2011