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EME Funding Committee Minutes – 26th and 27th February 2019

Contents

Published: 21 June 2019

Version: 1

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MRC-NIHR funding collaboration

Day 1: 26 February 2019, Danubius Hotel, Regents Park, London

Present

Members

  • Professor David Crossman (Interim Director and Chair)
  • Professor Eric Alton (Deputy Chair)
  • Dr Simon Bond
  • Dr Louise Brown
  • Professor Bill Deakin
  • Professor Janet Dunn
  • Mr Steve Edgar
  • Professor Carrol Gamble
  • Professor Paula Ghaneh
  • Professor Fiona Gilbert (Left at 3:50pm)
  • Professor Jonathan Grigg
  • Professor Ajit Lalvani (Left at 1:00pm)
  • Professor Iain McInnes
  • Professor Michael Nicholson
  • Mr Richard Parnell
  • Dr Richard Peck
  • Professor John Petrie
  • Professor RustamSalman
  • Professor Robert Storey
  • Professor Frank Sullivan (Left at 1:40pm)
  • Professor Mark Thursz
  • Professor Chris Weir

Co-Opted Committee Members: Professor Carl Clarke (By telephone at 2:00pm)

Secretariat

  • Dr Andrew Cook
  • Mr Rod Delanougerede
  • Dr Elena Harden
  • Miss Helen Munday
  • Dr DaniPreedy
  • Ms Susan Solomons
  • Dr William Toff

Apologies

  • Professor Steve Thornton
  • Professor Ruth Plummer
  • Absent DCM comments were presented at the meeting

Observers/In attendance

  • Professor Danny McAuley, EME Programme Director, effective 1st March 2019
  • Dr Matthew Ahearne, future TCC Funding Committee member
  • Ting-Li Su, RDS-NW , Great Manchester office

Stage 2 Proposals

18/58: EME Researcher Led

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: None

  • NIHR127982: Catheter Against Urinary Tract Infection Trial: a randomised trial of antimicrobial-impregnated urinary catheters for long-term indwelling urinary catheter users (CAUTI Trial)
    Professor Roger Bayston
    Decision: Recommended to Programme Director to consider fund with changes

18/128: Mechanisms of Action of Health Interventions

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: None

  • NIHR128582: Investigating the mechanism of action of cannabidiol as an antipsychotic
    Dr Sagnik Bhattacharyya
    Decision: Declined

17/60: EME Researcher Led

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Louise Brown, Carrol Gamble, Paula Ghaneh

  • 17/60/67: Enceph-IG - Intravenous Immunoglobulin in Autoimmune Encephalitis in Adults: A Randomised Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Trial
    Professor Tom Solomon
    Decision: Recommended to Programme Director to consider fund with changes

18/128: Mechanism of Action of Health Interventions

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Simon Bond, Bill Deakin, Janet Dunn, Rustam Salman, Chris Weir, Danny McAuley (observing), Ting-Li Su (observing)

  • NIHR128374: The Role of Immunosuppression in an antibiotic Stewardship intervention and its association with Clinical outcomes and antibiotic use: RISC-sepsis
    Dr Thomas Hellyer
    Decision: Recommended to Programme Director to consider fund with changes

18/128: Mechanisms of Action of Health Interventions

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Louise Brown, Robert Storey Bill Deakin left the meeting prior to the discussion

  • NIHR128210: STudy Of Prevention by Aspirin anD EPA; kNowledge Of Mechanism of Action (STOP-ADENOMA)
    Professor Mark Hull
    Decision: Recommended to Programme Director to consider fund with changes

18/58: EME Researcher Led

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Eric Alton, Carrol Gamble, Paula Ghaneh, AjitLalvani, Mark Thursz

  • NIHR127930: FUT U RE – GB Trial (Functional and Ultrasound guided Resection of Glioblastoma). A 2-Stage trial. Stage 1 Non-randomised learning phase evaluation of participating centres (an IDEAL study), followed by Stage 2 which is randomised,controlled Multicentre Phase III trial with 2 mechanistic substudies
    Mr Puneet Plaha
    Decision: Recommended to Programme Director to consider fund with changes

12/10: EME Researcher Led extension request

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Simon Bond, Louise Brown, Bill Deakin, Fiona Gilbert
Ajit Lalvani and Michael Nicholson left the meeting before the discussion

  •  12/10/18: A randomised controlled trial of the ketogenic diet in the treatment of epilepsy in children under the age of two years
    Professor Judith Helen Cross
    Decision: Approved

18/58: EME Researcher Led

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Eric Alton, Carrol Gamble, Paula Ghaneh, Mark Thursz, Chris Weir, William Toff, Ting-Li Su
Conflicted but not in attendance: Bill Deakin, Ajit Lalvani
Frank Sullivan left the meeting prior to the discussion

  • NIHR127575: The efficacy and mechanism of trientine in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
    Dr Christopher Alan Miller
    Decision: Recommended to Programme Director to consider fund with changes

18/58: EME Researcher Led

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Iain McInnes, John Petrie, Rustam Salman, Chris Weir

  • NIHR127690: MAnnitol and/or Glibenclamide for reducing IntraCerebral oedema after stroke (MAGIC)
    Professor Philip Michael Bath
    Decision: Declined

Stage 1 Proposals

18/125: EME Researcher Led

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Jonathan Grigg, Steve Thornton, William Toff and Matthew Ahearne (observing)
Bill Deakin returned to the meeting at the start of the discussion

  • NIHR128397: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) for the management of retinoblastoma
    Professor Irene Gottlob
    Decision: Declined

18/126: Functional Imaging

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Robert Storey, Chris Weir
Michael Nicholson returned for the meeting prior to the discussion

  • NIHR128467: Computational AnalySiS of functionAl Neuroimaging and Drug Response in pAinful Diabetic Neuropathy (CASSANDRA-DN)
    Dr Dinesh Selvarajah
    Decision: Declined - consider for development funding

18/126: Functional Imaging

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Simon Bond, Fiona Gilbert

  • NIHR128494: Application of multiparametric functional MRI to improve assessment of chronic kidney disease
    Dr Nicholas Michael Selby
    Decision: Shortlisted

18/126: Functional Imaging

Chair: Eric Alton
Declared a conflict and left the room: David Crossman, Simon Bond, Fiona Gilbert, Iain McInnes, John Petrie, Rustam Salman, Frank Sullivan, Chris Weir, William Toff and Matthew Ahearne (observing)

  • NIHR128538: 18F-Sodium Fluoride Positron Emission Tomography and Computed Tomography in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms to Predict Growth, Rupture or Repair. The SoFIA3-PREDICT Study
    Professor David E Newby
    Decision: Declined

18/131: Urothelial Cancers

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: : Louise Brown, Bill Deakin, IainMcInnes, JohnPetrie, Chris Weir, Ting-Li Su (observing)
Conflicted but not in attendance: Ruth Plummer

  • NIHR128040: Biomarker Directed Radiotherapy for Bladder Cancer (DIRECT)
    Professor Ananya Choudhury
    Decision: Declined - consider for development funding

18/131: Urothelial Cancers

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Louise Brown

  • NIHR128440: Testing Tests for the non-invasive diagnosis of recurrence during non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer Surveillance: “TT-Survey”
    Mr Richard Bryan
    Decision: Declined

18/131: Urothelial Cancers

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Robert Storey, Andrew Cook, Richard Peck
Fiona Gilbert left the meeting prior to the discussion

  • NIHR128103: Genotype of Urothelial cancer: Stratified Treatment and Oncological outcomes (GUSTO): Phase 2 study
    Professor James William Catto
    Decision: Shortlisted

18/127:Transplantation

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Simon Bond, Bill Deakin, Fiona Gilbert, Chris Weir, Andrew Cook, William Toff, Ting-Li Su (observing)

  • NIHR128600: PROpHET - Perfusion and Recovery Of HEarts for Transplantation
    Mr Pedro Catarino
    Decision: Declined – invited to resubmit

18/127: Transplantation

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Simon Bond, Chris Weir
Conflicted but not in attendance: Fiona Gilbert
Frank Sullivan returned to the meeting prior to the discussion

  • NIHR128169: A randomised controlled trial assessing the benefits of screening for anti-HLA antibodies to optimise immunosuppressive therapy and improve chronic allograft damage in liver transplantation.
    Professor Alberto Sanchez-Fueyo
    Decision: Declined

18/127: Transplantation

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Bill Deakin, Robert Storey, Ting-Li Su (observing) Page 6 of 11 Funding Committee Minutes – February 2019
Eric Alton noted he had published with the lead applicant in 2013 or earlier and it was agreed for him to remain in the room

  • NIHR128475: Early detection of post-transplant lung allograft dysfunction by monitoring of lung clearance index
    Dr Alex Horsley
    Decision: Shortlisted

18/127: Transplantation

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Eric Alton, Louise Brown, Ajit Lalvani, Mark Thursz

  • NIHR128318: Randomised controlled trial of faecal microbiota transplantation in renal allograft recipients
    Mr Reza Motallebzadeh
    Decision: Declined

18/127: Transplantation

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Simon Bond, Fiona Gilbert,RustamSalman, Chris Weir
Conflicted but not in attendance: Ajit Lalvani
Iain McInnes left the meeting prior to the discussion

  • NIHR128565: The Effect of Normothermic Machine Preservation on Utilisation of High Risk Livers for Transplantation – A National Randomised Controlled Trial
    Professor Peter Friend
    Decision: Declined

18/125: EME Researcher Led

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: None
Iain McInnes returned to the meeting prior to the discussion

  • NIHR128445: Efficacy and mechanisms evaluation of a blood free (acellular) perfusion fluid for use in normothermic machine perfusion and transplantation of extended criteria donor livers
    Professor Darius F Mirza
    Decision: Shortlisted

18/85: EME End of Life Care

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: None
Conflicted but not in attendance: Ruth Plummer
Mark Thursz left the meeting prior to the discussion

  • NIHR128366: Better treatment of symptoms for cancer patients at the end of life (BETTER-C): A Randomised Controlled Trial of a newly adapted pharmacological treatment for breathlessness and polysymptomatology in cancer patients at the end of life
    Professor Irene Julie Higginson
    Decision: Declined

Day 2: 27 February 2019, Danubius Hotel, Regents Park, London

Present

Members

  • Professor David Crossman (Chair)
  • Professor Eric Alton (Deputy Chair)
  • Dr Simon Bond
  • Dr Louise Brown
  • Professor Bill Deakin
  • Professor Janet Dunn
  • Mr Steve Edgar
  • Professor Carrol Gamble
  • Professor Paula Ghaneh
  • Professor Jonathan Grigg
  • Professor AjitLalvani
  • Professor Iain McInnes
  • Mr Richard Parnell
  • Dr Richard Peck
  • Professor John Petrie
  • Professor RustamSalman
  • Professor Robert Storey
  • Professor Frank Sullivan
  • Professor Steve Thornton
  • Professor Mark Thursz
  • Professor Chris Weir

Secretariat

  • Miss Helen Munday
  • Dr Elena Harden
  • Ms Susan Solomons
  • Dr Dani Preedy
  • Dr Andrew Cook
  • Dr William Toff

Apologies

  • Professor Fiona Gilbert
  • Professor Ruth Plummer
  • Dr Michael Nicholson

Observers/In attendance

  • Professor Danny McAuley, EME Programme Director
  • Dr Penny Morton, MRC Dr Louise Jones, MRC
  • Louise Hayes, Senior Research Methodologist, RDS North East

Stage 1 Proposals

18/86: EME Precision Medicine

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Richard Peck
Conflicted but not in attendance: Ruth Plummer

  • NIHR128529: Novel blood test to personalise Early Stage Colorectal Cancer treatment
    Professor David Cunningham
    Decision: Shortlisted

18/86: EME Precision Medicine

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Steve Thornton

  • NIHR128473: Etanercept as a disease-modifier in Alzheimer’s patients: a Phase II double-blind placebo controlled trial with a focus on neuro-inflammatory mechanisms
    Professor Marios Politis
    Decision: Declined

18/86: EME Precision Medicine

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Eric Alton, Simon Bond, Fiona Gilbert, Ajit Lalvani, Robert Storey, Mark Thursz, Chris Weir

  • NIHR128465: Positioning Imatinib for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
    Professor Martin Wilkins
    Decision: Shortlisted

18/180: EME Digital Technologies to Improve Health and Care

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: None
Conflicted but not present: Ruth Plummer

  • NIHR128345: Detection of residual leukaemia by integrated machine learning and label-free imaging cytometry
    Professor Julie Anne Elizabeth Irving
    Decision: Declined

18/125: EME Researcher Led

Chair: Eric Alton
Declared a conflict and left the room: Simon Bond,Carrol Gamble, Paula Ghaneh, Fiona Gilbert, Iain McInnes, John Petrie, Chris Weir, David Crossman

  • NIHR128346: A randomised control multicentre trial investigating efficacy and predictive markers of Spatial Inattention Grasping Home-based Therapy for spatial neglect recovery post-stroke (the predictiveSIGHT trial)
    Dr Stephanie Rossit
    Decision: Declined – invited to resubmit

18/125: EME Researcher Led

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Chris Weir, Danny McAuley (observing)

  • NIHR128593: Valproic acid for delirium in subarachnoid bleed trial (VALID trial)
    Dr Tonny Veenith
    Decision: Declined – invited to resubmit

18/125: EME Researcher Led

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Bill Deakin, Danny McAuley (observing)

  • NIHR128516: The ATOMiC (Antioxidant Therapy of Male Infertility Collaboration) Trial
    Dr Jackson C Kirkman-Brown
    Decision: Declined

18/125: EME Researcher Led

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Bill Deakin

  • NIHR128591: Improving Memory in Schizophrenia with PDE4 inibitor Roflumilast
    Professor Mitul Ashok Mehta
    Decision: Declined – invited to resubmit

18/125: EME Researcher Led

Chair: Andrew Cook
Declared a conflict and left the room: Eric Alton, Bill Deakin, Ajit Lalvani, Mark Thursz, David Crossman
Danny McAuley left the meeting prior to the discussion

  • NIHR128499: Treatment with Azole Antifungals to Prevent Lung Function Decline in People with Cystic Fibrosis and Aspergillus Infection.
    Professor Adilia Warris
    Decision: Declined

18/125: EME Researcher Led

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: None
Bill Deakin and Mark Thursz left the meeting prior to the discussion

  • NIHR128104: Hereditary Sensory Neuropathy Serine trial (SENSE trial)
    Professor Mary Margaret Reilly
    Decision: Shortlisted

18/125: EME Researcher Led

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Eric Alton, Ajit Lalvani, Iain McInnes, John Petrie, Mark Thursz, Andrew Cook, William Toff
Danny McAuley returned to the meeting prior to the discussion

  • NIHR128602: Randomised Evaluation of the Effect of Atrial Fibrillation Targeted Treatment Strategies on Exercise Capacity in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (EASE-HFpEF) Trial
    Dr Tom Wong
    Decision Declined – invited to resubmit

18/125: EME Researcher Led

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Eric Alton, Ajit Lalvani, Mark Thursz
Iain McInnes left the meeting prior to the discussion

  • NIHR128545: The efficacy of behavioural Support & low-energy TOtal diet rePlacement for Non-Alcoholic SteatoHepatitis: the STOP-NASH randomised controlled trial
    Professor Paul Aveyard
    Decision: Declined

18/125: EME Researcher Led

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Eric Alton, Bill Deakin, Ajit Lalvani, Mark Thursz, Chris Weir

  • NIHR128395: Alzheimer's Disease treatment with combined valacyclovir and celecoxib: A Novel Clinical Evaluation (ADVANCE)
    Dr Naji Tabet
    Decision: Declined

18/125: EME Researcher Led

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Simon Bond, Carrol Gamble, Paula Ghaneh, Fiona Gilbert, Chris Weir, Andrew Cook, William Toff

  • NIHR128598: DIRECTION trial - A UK Multi-centre Randomised Controlled Trial of Distal Aortic Repair versus Conservative Surgery in Acute Type A Aortic Dissection
    Mr Pedro Catarino
    Decision: Declined

18/125: EME Researcher Led

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Andrew Cook, William Toff
The Secretariat recorded that John Petrie has had a number of round table discussions about research strategy with co-applicant (Andrews) as they both chair a Diabetes UK Clinical Study Group. He has not been involved in any discussions about this application. It was agreed by the secretariat that there was not a direct link between the discussion with the co-applicants and the application topic under review

  • NIHR128432: A randomised controlled trial to determine whether exercise preserves beta cell function in adults with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes - The EXTOD2 trial
    Dr Parth Narendran
    Decision: Declined

18/125: EME Researcher Led

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Iain McInnes, John Petrie

  • NIHR128240: Remote Ischaemic Conditioning After Stroke 3 (RECAST-3): A multicentre randomised controlled trial
    Professor Timothy England
    Decision: Shortlisted

18/58: EME Researcher Led

Chair: David Crossman
Declared a conflict and left the room: Janet Dunn, Steve Thornton, Matthew Ahearne (observing)
Simon Bond and Paula Ghaneh left the meeting prior to the discussion

  • NIHR127461: SuSPeCT study (Stratification of Patients Suspected of Colorectal Cancer)
    Professor Ramesh Arasaradnam
    Decision: Shortlisted