The Health Research Authority (HRA) in conjunction with the Four Nations Contracting Leads Group has recently published the new model Material Transfer Agreement (mMTA). This template model agreement is applicable to the health services in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England and should be used without modification by commercial or non-commercial organisations in a research study for the provision of human biological material to the sponsor or sponsor’s agent.
The mMTA is not intended for non-study-specific transfer of material between tissue collection centres and research tissue banks or biorepositories. Work is ongoing to develop a template suitable for these purposes.
Commercial sponsors, Clinical Research Organisations (CROs), and universities are advised to use the mMTA as the standard agreement for the transfer of human biological material.
Feedback
Questions and/or feedback from HSC/NHS organisations on the mMTA and its use by Sponsors, CROs and universities should be provided to HSC Innovations at ResearchContracts@innovations.hscni.net, whereby these will be raised directly with the UK Contracting Leads group.
Assistance
For assistance with queries relating to the mMTA and other template agreements, contract drafting and negotiation for clinical trials or collaboration projects in research development and innovation, please contact Andrew Fox, Research Contracts Officer at HSC Innovations. All correspondence should be sent to ResearchContracts@innovations.hscni.net for further information and assistance.
To download the agreement click on the following link: Model Material Transfer Agreement