Annual Report and Accounts 2010/11 - Cancer Research UK

Our life-saving research
(continued)
Progress against the objectives we set last year – 2010/11
Continue to enhance
research programmes
in early diagnosis, screening
and prevention.
In April 2010 we reported a major
research breakthrough in the diagnosis
of bowel cancer. A16-year study that we
helped to fund showed that having a
one-off screening test, called flexible
sigmoidoscopy (flexi sig), could cut the
number of cases of bowel cancer by a
third. The test could also reduce deaths
from the disease by 43% among those
attending screening. Flexi sig scans the
bowel for growths called polyps and
removes them. If left untreated, these
growths can become cancerous.
In October 2010 the UK government
announced plans to introduce flexi sig
into England’s bowel screening
programme. And in March 2011 the UK
National Screening Committee gave the
go-ahead for the test to be introduced
into existing bowel cancer screening
programmes. We’re pushing Wales,
Scotland and Northern Ireland to follow
England’s example.
We funded ten research projects as part
of the National Awareness and Early
Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI). These
include raising public awareness of the
symptoms of cancer and the importance
of reporting these promptly to GPs, how
health services can respond promptly and
appropriately when patients go to their
GP with cancer symptoms, and studying
the triggers and behaviours that influence
whether people take part in screening.
Our research showed that removing
displays of tobacco at tills helps change
young people’s attitudes towards
smoking. Following our campaigning,
the UK government confirmed legislation
will be introduced to prevent shops from
displaying tobacco products.
We continue to co-fund the National
Prevention Research Initiative (NPRI),
which has contributed £23 million to
55 research projects that aim to prevent
cancer and other chronic diseases by
influencing the lifestyle and health choices
people make. We have committed
£1.5 million over five years to fund the
next phase of NPRI, which will develop
and test ways to help people alter
lifestyle behaviours, including quitting
smoking or losing weight.
Promote clinical and
translational research that
will maximise cancer survival.
We support more than 340 research
projects focusing on ‘bench-to-bedside’
studies into new ways to detect and treat
cancer. This includes around 200 UK
clinical trials. The number of cancer
patients taking part in clinical studies in
the UK has quadrupled in the last decade.
42,000 cancer patients join
publicly-funded trials each
year. Three-quarters
of those are taking part
in a trial supported by
Cancer Research UK.
Support for long-term clinical research is
crucial. For example, it took ten years for
a follow-up study led by one of our
scientists to prove the long-term benefit
of anastrozole, which is fast becoming
the ‘gold standard’ drug for preventing
the return of breast cancer. Another trial
for the drug abiraterone – discovered
and developed by our scientists –
showed that it can significantly improve
survival rates for men with advanced
prostate cancer.
In our five-year strategy, we committed
to boost research into radiotherapy.
Since 2007 we have supported over
30 early-phase trials into radiotherapy
treatments through our Experimental
Cancer Medicine Centres (ECMCs).
We have also supported five new larger
trials aimed at improving radiotherapy.
Surgery continues to be one of the most
important approaches to treating and
managing cancer and is another focus of
our five-year strategy. We aim to
increase research into surgery and in
September 2010 we launched a new
scheme that funds cancer surgeons to
develop novel research programmes
during their surgical training.
Continue to build strategic
partnerships with industry,
and continue to invest in and
foster national and international
collaborations to deliver the
best research.
Partnerships and collaborations with
industry are essential if we are to deliver
better treatments to patients.
In January 2010 Cancer Research
Technology Ltd (CRT), our technology
development and commercialisation
arm, signed a three-year agreement with
AstraZeneca to jointly discover drugs
that work by targeting the metabolism of
cancer cells. Scientists from CRT and
AstraZeneca are now working on four
drug discovery projects and the alliance
continues to progress well.
CRT also signed an agreement with
biotechnology company Cephalon in
March 2010, to discover new drugs that
work by disrupting a key molecule involved
in cancer, called protein kinase C. Studies
are currently progressing at the CRT
Discovery Laboratories before Cephalon
takes the project for further development.
An alliance with AstraZeneca and our
network of ECMCs will see us working
together to test new combinations of
cancer drugs in early clinical trials. The
first study will start in late 2011 and two
further new treatment combinations
have been agreed.
In partnership with biopharmaceutical
company Immatics Biotechnologies, we
launched a trial of a new vaccine for an
aggressive form of brain cancer.
Review our funding
mechanisms to ensure that
we are developing, funding and
supporting the next generation of
cancer researchers.
We launched an online electronic grants
management system, streamlining
processes and making it easier for
researchers to apply for funding and
manage their grants.
We have a number of fellowship funding
schemes which support talented
researchers at the start of and during
their careers. These schemes help us to
develop future leaders in cancer research,
and this year we saw a significant rise in
applications across all of our fellowships.
06 / Annual Report and Accounts / Our life-saving research