Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) Tier 3 Funding review published

  Created on Tuesday, 02 May 2017. Posted in Funding

In competition 26 RfPB introduced a high risk funding tiers (Tier 3), this report identifies what has been currently funded via tier 3. Tier 3 funds projects that are higher risk and further away from patient benefit, the report additionally looks at the pathways the studies take to achieve patient benefit.  

• Tier 1 (up to £350k) for research that has a clear and close trajectory to patient benefit, such as a definitive trial.
• Tier 2 (up to £250k) for research proposals which are feasibility studies.
• Tier 3 (up to £150k) for research which is on a pathway to patient benefit yet further from it

To date 21 projects have been funded under tier 3 accounting for 22% of all RfPB funded projects.

The funded projects fall into the following research types:

• 3 systematic reviews
• 7 developing and refining interventions
• 1 meta-analysis
• 1 realist synthesis
• 1 economic evaluation
• 6 secondary data analysis (including developing predictive models and needs assessments)
• 2 diagnostic accuracy studies

Covering four types of research topics and designs:

1. Therapeutic – concerned with developing and evaluating interventions to improve patient benefit
2. Diagnostic – concerned with ensuring patients are appropriately classified to receive the above intervention
3. Needs assessment – concerned with assessing the needs (usually of interventions) in a particular patient population
4. Evidence synthesis.