Clinical trials are crucial in cancer research
Since 1995, more than 100,000 patients have taken part in our treatment trials.
In this final article selected from our Annual Review, we focus on the crucial role of clinical trials and the people who take part in them.
Professor Tuveson is hopeful for the future of pancreatic cancer medicine
Pancreatic cancer urgently needs more research – to detect the disease sooner, improve treatments and save lives. Just 3 per cent of people with this cancer survive for five years or more.
In this excerpt from our Annual Review Professor David Tuveson from our Cambridge Research Institute (CRI) talks about his work on pancreatic cancer and new treatments that he is working on.
Clinical trials are vital for assessing new cancer treatments
We’ve funded many of the world’s most successful trials of new treatments for children with cancer.
Continuing our series of Annual Review articles, we’re sharing the story of Katie Currie, 8, who took part in a clinical trial for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
Our research has been used to develop and improve the UK’s national screening programmes for breast, bowel and cervical cancer, which save thousands of lives each year.
In this article from our Annual Review, we discuss a new life-saving test – ‘flexi sig’ – that is being added to the bowel cancer screening programme in England. We’re calling for the governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to do the same.
Adding this new test to the current screening programme could be the biggest breakthrough in beating bowel cancer for a generation.
When Jim Scott, a retired BT technician from Dundee, received a home screening test for bowel cancer he didn’t think too much about it.
‘Although I knew it was sensible to complete and send it back, I was feeling on top form, but further tests discovered a cancerous growth. ‘My world just turned upside down. I just couldn’t believe it, but I knew I was lucky that it had been caught when it was.
My cancer was caught quite early, but I did need extensive surgery so it was a tough time. I’ll always be thankful for the screening tests and the incredible skills of everyone who helped me. This new test sounds tremendous and it’s great that it’s going to be added to the screening programme.’
Jim Scott, 64, from Dundee. Bowel cancer survivor
Bowel cancer is the second biggest cancer killer in the UK, claiming more than 16,000 lives every year. Last year, scientists made a major breakthrough. The results of a 16-year trial we helped to fund showed that a new test could change these statistics forever and potentially save the lives of thousands of people like Jim.
Flexible sigmoidoscopy (flexi sig) cut the number of cases of bowel cancer by a third and reduced deaths from the disease by 43% for those who had the test. Now, thanks in part to our campaigning, the government will add this life-saving test to England’s bowel cancer screening programme. We’re pushing Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to follow England’s example.
As with many cancers, early detection of bowel cancer is vital. Research suggests that over 90% of bowel cancer patients will survive the disease for more than five years if it’s diagnosed at the earliest stage.
The current screening programme was introduced in England in 2006 for 60–69 year olds, and we are already seeing more cases being detected in the over-60s. People in their 60s are sent a kit through the post for them to return stool samples. These are then checked in a lab for traces of blood that could be a sign of cancer, in which case a colonoscopy will be offered.
The new flexi sig test involves a tube with a tiny camera and light at the end. In as little as five minutes it can spot, and remove, polyps (pre-cancerous growths) before they have a chance to develop into cancer. Adding this new test to the current screening programme could be the biggest breakthrough in beating bowel cancer for a generation, preventing thousands of deaths from the disease every year.
Further information
Around nine out of ten cancer deaths are caused by the disease spreading
In our second highlight from our Annual Review, we talk about our progress towards understanding cancer spread and developing treatments that could stop cancer returning, allowing more people to get the ‘all clear’ once and for all.
We published our Annual Review today. In it, you can read about our life-saving work and the progress we’ve made over the past 12 months. We’ve selected our highlights from the report and will be publishing them over the next few days.
In the first of this series of articles, we’ve picked out an interview with Sir Paul Nurse, Chief Executive of the The Francis Crick Institute, a new world-class research institute in the UK that we’re helping to create.
You have called The Francis Crick Institute the most significant development in British biomedical science for a generation. Does it deserve this accolade?
I think it does. Our purpose for the institute is: ‘understanding life for the benefit of humanity’. It will bring together the best scientists in the world working in many fields of research and establish close links with clinicians, healthcare organisations and industry.
The institute will have the vision and expertise to tackle some of the most challenging scientific questions underpinning human health, helping us to understand and beat diseases that affect everyone, such as cancer, heart disease and stroke. We believe it will become one of the leading biomedical research institutes in the world.
The institute will become one of the leading biomedical research institutes in the world (click to enlarge)
