Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to research carried out by Dr Steven Hall and Dr Stefanie Menzies at Lancaster University, whether his Department has plans to invest in snakebite research, in the context of the UK commitment under the World Health Organisation 2030 Neglected Tropical Disease Road Map to prevent, control and eliminate NTDs by 2030.

The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) announced new funding for Product Development Partnerships including support to Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) for the development of new effective treatments for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in May 2026. DNDi are mapping and assessing opportunities for collaboration across the snakebite envenoming innovation landscape. FCDO also supports applied research for NTDs through the Coalition for Operational Research on NTDs.

To make the FCDO's research and development (R&D) more open and accessible, we have created a Global Research and Technology Development (GRTD) platform that pulls together our R&D portfolio. In May 2026 the FCDO published its Areas of Research Interest (ARI) highlighting where we are keen to develop and expand our evidence. Future funding opportunities will be advertised via GRTD Funding Opportunities.