Leading scientists and clinicians have published an open letter, coordinated by Brain Tumour Research, calling on the Government to increase investment to generate the pipeline of medicines and interventions that brain tumour patients desperately need. It comes as new analysis by Brain Tumour Research has shown that nearly three quarters (74%) of research funding into brain tumours comes from the charity sector, compared to just 26% from Government.
The letter:
The Prime Minister’s forthcoming meeting with Archie Goodburn is a pivotal opportunity to change the prospects for brain tumour patients through a renewed Government commitment on research, innovation and faster access to effective treatments.
For glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of primary brain tumour, there have been no new drugs for more than 20 years, and survival rates have stagnated. Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under the age of 40, yet they have not received the sustained research investment seen in other cancers such as leukaemia. The consequences are stark: five-year survival rates for leukaemia are 67 percent overall compared to 20 percent for brain tumours overall. From 2002 - 2021 we estimate that just 1% of national cancer research funding has been allocated to research into brain tumours. In the same time period, leukaemia received more than five times the level of research funding.
As scientists and clinicians researching more effective treatments for this devastating disease, we need to see a step change in funding from Government and the growth of a life sciences sector in this country that incentivises innovation and investment globally. Not just to accelerate discovery research in the laboratory tackling a disease in the most complex organ of the body, but to enable research teams across the UK to gather the evidence base required to establish clinical trials.
Breakthroughs in the laboratory mean nothing if they don’t change outcomes for patients and support to bridge that gap is paramount. The National Cancer Plan for England sets out a survival rate for Britain to move into the top quartile of European countries for people remaining alive at five years after their diagnosis by 2035.
Whilst some funding has been unlocked, without substantial additional investment from Government, this target for brain tumours will never be met as we will not generate the pipeline of medicines and interventions that patients desperately need. Unless the Prime Minister commits to substantial additional funding adults and children diagnosed with many forms of this disease will continue to not stand a chance.
Professor Khuloud Al-Jamal, Kings College London
Professor of Drug Delivery & Nanomedicine
Dr Omer Bayraktar, Wellcome Sanger Institute
Group Leader, Cellular Genomics Programme
Professor Anthony Chalmers, University of Glasgow
Chair of Clinical Oncology
Co-director of the Scottish Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence
Professor Richard Gilbertson, University of Cambridge
Head of Department of Oncology Research
Professor Chris Jones, Institute of Cancer Research
Professor of Childhood Brain Tumour Biology and Head of Division: Glioma
Director of the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at the Institute of Cancer Research
Professor David Parkinson, University of Plymouth
Professor of Neuroscience
Director of the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at the University of Plymouth
Professor Simona Parrinello, University College London
Professor of Neuro-Oncology and Head of the Research Department of Cancer Biology
Professor Steven Pollard, University of Edinburgh
Professor of Stem Cell & Cancer Biology
Co-director of the Scottish Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence
Professor Sergio A. Quezada, University College London
Professor of Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy
Professor Ruman Rahman, University of Nottingham
Professor of Molecular Neuro-Oncology
Director of the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at the University of Nottingham
Professor Susan Short, University of Leeds
Professor of Clinical Oncology and Neuro-Oncology
