Medical research charities and COVID-19: AMRC’s response and key guidance Updated 5 February 2021 This is a live blog which will continue to be updated as further information and guidance becomes available. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is being felt across the breadth of our health system and beyond. This is a deeply challenging time for our charities, patients and the public. In this blog we’ll provide updates on our response work and signposts to key guidance. Our response work AMRC have identified three main ways that COVID-19 is affecting our members: impact on the research that charities fund; impact on the communities represented and supported by many charities; and impact on the ways that charities work. We've been working hard to support our members with these issues. Supporting our charities We launched an online forum to help our member charities share information, questions and concerns about the impact of COVID-19 on research, patients and organisations. Most of our member charities have had to furlough skilled and experienced staff. Many of these staff are unable to do any work for their own charity but would like to volunteer for others. To help with this we started advertising member charity volunteer opportunities in our weekly mailing. We hold regular virtual meetings with member charity CEOs to update them on our COVID-19 response work, listen to their concerns and answer any questions they may have. Collecting and sharing evidence Since the UK went into lockdown, we’ve carried out multiple surveys to capture the impact of the pandemic on our member charities. We used the results to develop two infographics: one demonstrating the risk to AMRC charities and one demonstrating the risk to charity-funded researchers. We developed a briefing outlining how medical research charities can partner with Government to accelerate economic recovery post-COVID - ‘levelling up’ across the country and securing the UK’s position as a scientific superpower. Alongside the British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK, we supported the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) to carry out an independent analysis. The resulting report showed that the impact of COVID-19 on charity research could mean £7.8 billion less for medical research over the next 8 years. All of this evidence has been shared with Government and key stakeholders. Reactive statements When funders started pausing non-COVID19 research to focus efforts and resources on the pandemic our CEO commented that these decisions should be made with the impact on patients in mind and must be communicated transparently and sensitively. We monitored developments on Government’s Job Retention Scheme and published a statement highlighting lack of clarity for what can and should be done for researchers that charities fund. When Government published their Research and Development Roadmap, we responded welcoming recognition of the need to invest in UK R&D and imploring Government to help save charity-funded research. Campaigning When the Chancellor announced a £750 million charity support package we sent a letter to stress that medical research charities are unlikely to benefit from this package. We published a proposal for the Life Sciences-Charity Partnership Fund setting out a co-investment scheme that provides a level of match funding from Government for future charity research over the next three years. It asks for at least £310 million from in the financial year 2020/21 to bridge the sector’s project research spend gap. We’ve sent two open letters urging Government to commit to our Life Sciences-Charity Partnership Fund: one to the Chancellor of the Exchequer signed by over 50 cross-party Members of Parliament and one to the Prime Minster signed by over 30 pharma and tech companies. We ran social media days on 9 September and 28 October. Thousands of researchers, charities and stakeholders from across the R&D sector joined us on Twitter to call on the Department of Business, Energy and the Industrial Strategy and HM Treasury to protect charity-funded research. #ResearchAtRisk made it into the top 25 trends in the UK on both days. The Lancet published a comment piece written by the CEOs of AMRC, Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation calling for Government to commit to a Life Sciences Charity Partnership Fund. A joint statement was published on the importance of a thriving UK life sciences research sector to accelerate recovery. This statement was signed by industry and charity leaders. The day before the Spending Review announcement, Dr James Davies MP and Chris Green MP opened a debate on recognising and preserving the value of charity-funded medical research in the 2020 Spending Review. Liz Twist MP, Wera Hobhouse MP, Racheal Maskell MP, Neale Harvey MP, Lucy Powell MP, and Amanda Solloway MP participated in the debate. Since COVID-19 pandemic hit the UK, our messaging about its impact on medical research charities and the need for the Life Sciences Charity Partnership Fund has featured in over 100 online and print articles and 11 TV and radio interviews. Over 80 MPs and Lords have advocated for our Fund. Government announced the Spending Review 2020 on 25 November. AMRC published a response welcoming the increase in funding for research and innovation but urging Government to provide clarity on how the Spending Review will support charity-funded research. In January 2021, we drove forward our #ResearchAtRisk campaign to the public asking people to write to the Prime Minister using our platform. So far, over 6,500 people have written to Boris Johnson. Sector statements and guidance We regularly refresh this list to ensure it reflects the latest guidance. British Society for Immunology: Statement on COVID-19 vaccines for patients who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed (Published 19 January 2021) British Society for Immunology: Statement on COVID-19 vaccine dosing schedules British Society for Immunology: Public engagement resources Charity Tax Group: Coronavirus information hub for charity tax and finance professionals (Updated 1 November 2020) Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy: Working safely during coronavirus (COVID-19) (Updated 7 January 2021) Department for Health and Social Care: The COVID-19 vaccine communication handbook Health Research Authority: COVID-19 research HM Revenue & Customs: Check which employees you can put on furlough to use the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (Updated 3 February 2021) Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency: MHRA guidance on coronavirus (Updated 5 February 2021) National Institute for Health Research: NIHR’s response to COVID-19 The Charity Commission: Coronavirus guidance for the charity sector (Updated 8 January 2021) UK Research and Innovation: Guidance for applicants, students and award-holders impacted by the pandemic Legal resources Simmons & Simmons, an international law firm, have a dedicated section on their website with links to resources about the legal aspects of COVID-19. COVID-19: risks and opportunities Remote working - signing legal documents using e-signatures Government websites for country-specific COVID-19 guidance The Coronavirus outbreak challenge Coronavirus – impact on business contracts Construction and the Coronavirus Trusting the internet: An overview of anti-disinformation laws Coronavirus (COVID-19) - the insurance issues Managing Insolvency Risk and Financial Reporting Coronavirus - impact on tax COVID-19 and its potential impact on trade finance Other publications Charities supporting the national response Our member charities are using their expertise and resources to support the national response to the crisis however they can. Anthony Nolan: Loaned its 'automated liquid handling units' to research scientists based at one of the UK's new COVID-19 testing laboratories Asthma UK and British Lung Foundation Partnership: Co-funded a £1.3 million national research programme to evaluate coronavirus tests in hospitals, general practices and care homes and launched a post-COVID Hub and helpline for people left with breathing difficulties after COVID-19 Cancer Research UK: Donated equipment and reagents to national COVID-19 testing and have set up their own testing hubs Francis Crick Institute (funded by Cancer Research UK and Wellcome Trust) Developed a COVID-19 testing service for patients and NHS staff with UCLH MQ: Transforming Mental Health: Worked with the Academy of Medical Sciences, people with live experience, funders and the public to create a robust mental health research response to COVID-19 MS Society: Used their registry to survey people with MS about how the virus is affecting them and to learn if people on Disease Modifying Treatments are more susceptible Versus Arthritis: Launched a Virtual Assistant to help people with arthritis get relevant health information related to COVID-19 quickly Wellcome Trust: Pledged £10 million to tackle COVID-19 epidemic Charity information for researchers Our member charities have published position statements and guidance on COVID-19 for their grant applicants and grant holders. Alzheimer’s Research UK: Position statement for researchers Alzheimer’s Society: Coronavirus statement for researchers (Updated 8 October 2020) Asthma UK and British Lung Foundation Partnership: COVID-19 Update for Researchers Bone Cancer Research Trust: Charity statement - Changes to research grant programme British Heart Foundation: Statement on Coronavirus and research grants (Updated 4 January 2021) Cancer Research UK: Information for grant applicants and grant holders Diabetes UK: Research funding position statement on coronavirus Fight for Sight: Researcher information Moorfields Eye Charity: COVID-19 guidance for society grants and awards holders The Stroke Association: Research awards and arrangements relating to COVID-19 (Updated 14 April 2020) Versus Arthritis: Message from Stephen Simpson, Director of Research (Updated 12 August 2020) Wellcome Trust: Coronavirus (COVID-19): information for grant applicants and grant holders (Updated 4 February 2021)