Will UK/EU collaboration lead to more efficient research?
Cancer Research UK is working with two European cancer research charities, AIRC (Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro) and FC AECC (Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer), to jointly invest in six international research projects.
One of the projects will see Newcastle University lead research into liver cancer with £5m of funding. Liver cancer is one of the hardest cancers to treat, according to the charity, with only 11% of patients in Europe and 9% in England surviving the disease for more than five years. It is also the fastest rising cause of cancer deaths in the UK.
The Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute in Glasgow will lead research into finding new routes for personalised bowel cancer treatment, with £5m of funding.
The other projects are developing manufacturing methods for CAR-T cell production at the University of Milan-Bicocca, tracking cancer cell evolution at the Fondazione Centro San Raffaele, Functional Genomics of Cancer Unit, investigating drug resistance in blood cancers at the Clinica Universidad de Navarra and devising a blood test for advanced prostate cancer at the University of Trento.
The accelerator awards projects will be funded for five years.
Cancer Research UK has also announced a £14m investment for a London hub for cancer research and treatment which will bring together institutions including UCL, King’s College London, Queen Mary University of London and the Francis Crick Institute.
Research at ‘the global centre for biotherapeutics’ will cover all cancer variants with a special emphasis on children’s cancer.
Further information
Cancer Research UK: European cancer research gets £30m vote of confidence
Cancer Research UK: Liver cancer: UK’s fastest rising cause of cancer death to be tackled
Pharmafile: Cancer Research UK announces new £14m research hub in London