R&D Tax Credit Advance for Healthcare & Medtech Companies

Medical device development, pharmaceutical formulation, clinical trial design and execution, diagnostic test development, healthcare software, and novel biological research all qualify where there is genuine technical uncertainty and a real attempt to advance scientific or technological knowledge. Uncertainty is the test: if the answer was already known, it is not qualifying R&D. Patient recruitment, regulatory admin fees, and marketing do not qualify, but the scientific and technical work underpinning your MHRA or FDA submission usually does.

Some lenders will advance against a claim in preparation rather than a filed return, particularly where a reputable R&D tax adviser is involved and provides a letter confirming the basis and estimated value. Others insist the submission has already reached HMRC. We tell you upfront which lenders move at which stage, because it changes your timeline. Whether any lender proceeds, and on what terms, is their decision.

The technical documentation, testing, and validation work behind an MHRA or FDA submission frequently holds substantial qualifying R&D expenditure. The regulatory fee itself and the project management around submission generally do not qualify, but the underlying scientific and engineering work that produces the data package usually does. Your R&D tax adviser should be separating these in the claim; if they are not, push back on it.

Under the merged scheme from April 2024, loss-making companies that are R&D intensive (R&D expenditure above 30% of total costs) can claim at 27% rather than the standard 20%. Early-stage healthcare and biotech companies often sit well above that 30% threshold. The higher rate directly increases the credit value, which increases the amount you can advance against it.