Brain Tumour Research hosted an industry roundtable to discuss the challenges faced moving discovery research in the laboratory into clinical trials for brain tumour patients. The event on Wednesday 18th February was attended by experts from the pharmaceutical industry, biotechnology companies, the NHS and Government.
Brain tumour patients are less likely to be enrolled in a clinical trial than other cancers and trial delivery trails behind other disease areas in the UK.
Chaired by Dr Karen Noble, Director of Research, Policy and Innovation at Brain Tumour Research, alongside Dr Amit Aggarwal, Executive Director of Medical Affairs and Strategic Partnerships at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), the roundtable aimed to get views from across the life sciences sector about why this is the case – and importantly, what are the potential solutions.
Key themes emerged around:
- A lack of investment to support promising therapeutic approaches cross the ‘valley of death’ for translational research – where costs and resource requirements ramp up dramatically
- The complexity of the regulatory process to approve a clinical trial and opaque system for setting up and funding trial sites at different NHS Trusts
- Challenges with the model for approving and adopting medicines in the NHS, coupled with a lack of incentives for investment in the UK compared to other countries
As one participant noted: “Worse than not doing a clinical trial, is that we run the trials but then cannot prescribe the treatment on the NHS at the end of it.”
We are thankful to all attendees for their frank contributions. These discussions will inform a set of recommendations that we will use to influence policy stakeholders, parliamentarians and charity partners. While the National Cancer Plan and the Rare Cancers Bill hold great promise for increasing access to clinical trials, including the Cancer Trials Accelerator, it is clear that the current system is not fit for purpose. We will continue to work with government to ensure that the infrastructure and investment is in place to make a difference for the brain tumour community.
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