Efficacy & Mechanism Evaluation

Funding Stream Key Information

EME Key Information

Aim: To evaluate interventions with potential to make a step-change in promoting health, treating disease and improving care. EME supports clinical trials and other robustly designed studies that test the efficacy of interventions and the mechanisms of diseases and treatments. EME is a partnership between the MRC and NIHR.

Funding: Commissioned and researcher-led, no fixed limits on duration or funding.

Process: Two-stage process.

Funding Panel Observations

Summary of Panel Observation Tips

EME funds research that is earlier in the development pathway than HTA
The EME committee will look for detailed recruitment plans as few trials recruit > 50% of eligible patients
Designs involving routinely collected digital data and/or novel methodologies are strongly encouraged

Key panel observations:

Sample size: This includes issues such as sample size calculation justification, consideration of dropout rates, and ensuring the sample size is adequately powered.
Clarity and presentation: Applications should have a clear research question, benefit, and impact. They should also be well-written and easy to read.
PPI (Patient and Public Involvement): The level and detail of PPI involvement in the study design and execution are often scrutinized.
Precision medicine: When applicable, applications should clearly define how precision medicine principles are being applied.
Platform trials: For platform trials, common issues include a lack of clarity regarding the interventions and a lack of succession planning for the platform design.

Other issues that arise include the clarity of the primary outcome, the appropriateness of the control group, the robustness of the proof of concept, and the reliance on self-report measures.

Latest Dates

Funding Deadlines

Call	Webinar	Outline submission deadline	Outcome date	Full submission deadline	Outcome date
Swiss-UK investigator-led randomised controlled clinical trials in areas of unmet clinical need		9 Sept 25
Novel non-pharmacological approaches for diagnosis and treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)		5 Aug 25	Nov 25	Jan 26	March 26
Prevention and/or management of lymphoedema following Breast Cancer Resection		5 Aug 25	Nov 25	Jan 26	March 26
NIHR NICE Rolling Funding Opportunity (EME Programme)		8 April 25	July 25	Sept 25	Nov 25
NIHR James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnerships Rolling Funding Opportunity (EME Programme)		8 April 25	July 25	Sept 25	Nov 25
EME Programme Researcher-led		8 April 25	July 25	Sept 25	Nov 25
Decarbonising the health and social care system		26 March 25	June 25	August 25	November 25
Australia-UK platform studies in areas of unmet clinical need		23 July 25	October 25	27 November 25	Feb 26

Examples

EME Example

A randomised placebo-controlled study examining the role of anti-IgE in severe recalcitrant paediatric atopic eczema

Funding: £479k, 2014-2018

Aim: To determine if the drug anti-IgE (omalizumab) can reduce levels of IgE in children with eczema and improve their symptoms.

Other EME Examples

Gene therapy for choroideremia - a Phase II clinical trial
Paclitaxel assisted balloon Angioplasty of Venous stenosis in haEmodialysis access: The PAVE Trial. A multicentre double-blind randomised controlled trial in haemodialysis patients with a stenosis in a native arteriovenous fistula.
PAX-D: Randomised placebo-controlled trial evaluating the efficacy and mechanism of pramipexole as add-on treatment for people with treatment resistant depression
STudy Of Prevention by Aspirin anD EPA; kNowledge Of Mechanism of Action (STOP-ADENOMA)