Policy

Pandemic influenza

Summary| Working Group Membership| Terms of Reference| Review Group Membership| Project Downloads

Faced with the threat of an influenza pandemic, governments around the world are developing strategies to prevent and treat a pandemic. The Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal Society have published a joint report that examines the extent to which scientific evidence is being incorporated into preparedness for a pandemic, and identifies areas where scientific input into policy development and contingency planning operations needs to be considered further.

This short report seeks to provide a timely analysis of the underlying science of avian and pandemic influenza. It examines how scientific evidence can inform policy making in both the short and long term and the extent to which policy is being based on scientific evidence. It also set priorities for future research.

For further information please visit the Royal Society website.

In follow-up to publication of the report, the Academy of Medical Sciences and Royal Society held a symposium on 27 November 2007. The symposium highlighted recent advances in our understanding of avian influenza, antiviral drug resistance, human vaccine development and epidemiology and addressed how scientific evidence has informed development of the UK framework for responding to an influenza pandemic. The symposium bought together academics, stakeholders and policymakers for an active discussion, including presentations by leading researchers in the field. The report of the symposium can be found below. To view the programme please visit: http://www.acmedsci.ac.uk/p44evid78.html.

In 2005, the Academy was invited to respond to the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee inquiry into 'pandemic influenza'. A wide range of Academy Fellows, from laboratory to clinic, were consulted in preparing the inquiry response. Evidence was also drawn from the Academy's meeting with the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson FMedSci, which was held on 20 September 2005. The Academy's response which is available to download below, was submitted on Thursday 29 September 2005.

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Sir John Skehel FRS FMedSci (Chair)
National Institute for Medical Research

Professor Neil Ferguson OBE FMedSci
Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Imperial College London

Professor Barry Furr OBE FMedSci
Consultant Scientist and formerly Chief Scientist Astra Zeneca

Dr John McCauley
Institute of Animal Health

Professor Andrew McMichael FRS FMedSci
Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine
University of Oxford

Professor Karl Nicholson
Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation
University of Leicester

Professor Albert Osterhaus
Department of Virology
Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam

Professor Geoffrey Schild CBE FMedSci
Former Director of the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control

Mr Richard Stubbins
Pandemic planning subgroup, UK Vaccine Industry Group and Sanofi Pasteur MSD

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The Pandemic Influenza working group will consider the following questions:

• How does the scientific understanding (basic research to clinical application) of avian and pandemic influenza, in the short and long term, impact on:
  1. Treatment: the use of existing and development of new drugs and vaccines.
  2. Clinical care: diagnosis, basic understanding of the diseases; infection control; transmission.
  3. Strategies and preparedness for an outbreak: modelling and surveillance.
• What lessons can be learnt from other disease outbreaks and more general public emergencies, and the associated emergency planning responses?
• How are wider ethical social and regulatory issues, including those associated with the development of new technologies or treatments influencing current policymaking and future preparedness?
• How is the scientific evidence (academic, public or commercial) being incorporated into policy making?

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Professor David Read FRS (Chair)
Biological Secretary & Vice-President, The Royal Society

Professor Angela McLean
Department of Zoology & Institute for Emergent Infections of Humans, University of Oxford

Professor Ian Newton OBE FRS
Centre for Ecology & Hyrdology

Professor Geoffrey Smith FRS FMedSci
Department of Virology, Imperial College London

Professor Nicholas White OBE FRS FMedSci
Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Thailand

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• Scope of study and call for evidence [130.97k]
• Academy submission to House of Lords Inquiry [176.74k]
• Final Report, Pandemic Influenza: science into policy [0.98mb]
• Influenza Symposium Report [3.21mb]
• Influenza Symposium Programme [55.36k]

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