In a statement, the academy said, “The desire to promote innovation is fully supported by the medical profession and we welcome the opportunity that the Medical Innovation Bill has provided for this to be debated. However, the view of the Academy and Medical Royal Colleges, reaffirmed at the end of last year, is that we do not believe that the bill actually will achieve this worthwhile intention.”
According to the academy, when it was first presented, Royal Colleges and other professional medical bodies had concerns about potential unintended implications of the Bill. The academy does believe that the amendments made to the bill to date have addressed a number of those concerns.
“There still, however, remains a danger of the unintended consequences of the bill in diverting efforts away from properly conducted clinical research trials,” said the academy. “In addition, even as amended, we remain unclear as to what value the bill will add to the current position. We do not, therefore, believe that the legislation is necessary and efforts could more helpfully be directed at removing some of the practical barriers that can impede real innovation in the NHS.”
