One of the sessions at this year’s NCRI conference was on the theme of ‘The cost of cancer care’ and included those hotly debated topics of drug approval by NICE and regional variations in cancer spend (aka the ‘postcode lottery‘).
So it was unsurprising that the lecture theatre was packed to the rafters, with some people resorting to perching on the steps.
7 Comments | 
Cancer Treatment, Chemotherapy & Drugs, Drug approval, NCRI conference, Policy, Quality of life | 
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Posted by Helen George
Tumours often have dodgy plumbing
Rakesh Jain, Professor of Tumour Biology at Harvard Medical School, has a somewhat controversial viewpoint, which he spoke about at this year’s NCRI Conference.
He thinks scientists may have got the wrong end of the stick about angiogenesis inhibitors – relatively new cancer drugs that are designed to block the growth of blood vessels in tumours. If he’s right, it could mean that the drugs’ success to date has been no more than a happy accident, and their full potential for treating cancer is yet to be unlocked.
Moreover, they could also be used to treat a range of other blood-related diseases, from heart disease to some forms of blindness.
3 Comments | 
Cancer Treatment, Chemotherapy & Drugs, NCRI conference, Science | 
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Posted by Henry Scowcroft
People who don’t have one of the “big four” most common cancers – breast, bowel, lung or prostate – may feel that their disease gets less attention from the media and a smaller chunk of research funding. But rarer cancers present unique research challenges and, behind the scenes, many scientists and clinicians are looking for ways to improve this situation.
At the NCRI Cancer Conference a session devoted to discussing these issues attracted a varied audience, including many people who had been treated for a rare type of cancer, as well as clinicians and policy makers.
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Cancer Research UK-funded research, Cancer Treatment, NCRI conference, Science, Statistics | 
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Posted by juliesharp
Here’s the final podcast from the NCRI Cancer Conference – an interview with Mariano Barbacid, one of the world’s leading experts on the important cancer protein Ras.
If you’ve been listening to any of the podcasts from the conference, and would like to leave us your feedback or suggestions, please do so in the comments. Thanks.
Kat
Leave a Comment » | Cancer in the news, Genes, NCRI conference, Podcast, Scientific papers | Permalink
Posted by Kat Arney
Today Icelandic biotech firm Decode Genetics announced the launch of the first commercially available test to assess a woman’s genetic risk of breast cancer, costing around £1,000.
Although we’re rapidly understanding more and more about the role of genes in cancer risk, we believe that it’s too early for a test of this kind to be released to the general public. We are also concerned that the tests would be used without clear counselling about what the results might mean.
Click on the player below to listen to a short interview with Cancer Research UK Senior Clinical Research Fellow and breast cancer genetics expert, Dr Paul Pharoah, explaining his concerns about the test.
Link to download (1.4Mb, 2 mins 25)
There’s also an excellent, in-depth exploration of the issue over on Dr Len’s Cancer blog from the American Cancer Society.
Kat
7 Comments | Breast, Cancer in the news, DNA, Gene-environment, Genes, Statistics | Permalink
Posted by Kat Arney
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