Nevertheless, in 2011, a coalition of scientists and funders submitted a letter to former UK Secretary of State for Health Andrew Lansley requesting regulation revision, in order to permit the new techniques’ use in clinical treatment “once sufficient pre-clinical evidence [was] established.” The influential groups backing the coalition – including the UK Academy of Medical Sciences, the Medical Research Council, and the Wellcome Trust – claimed that “translating research into treatment [looked] achievable in the near future.”