Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure NHS professionals are aware of personalised cancer vaccines.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad (CVLP) is a platform set up to accelerate the development of cancer vaccines and speed up access to mRNA personalised cancer vaccine clinical trials for cancer patients. The CVLP has been instrumental in accelerating trial activity in cancer research, with CVLP sites driving faster activation and enrolment timelines.

The CVLP provides an extended network of referral sites to broaden trial access and to identify eligible patients through genetic analysis, working with the Vaccine Innovation Pathway to optimise patient recruitment. This means that patients can be recruited from across parts of the country and means that the United Kingdom was the fastest recruiting country for the first international trial of personalised vaccination after surgery for colorectal cancer.

As the CVLP continues its phased scale-up across the country, professional awareness is being driven by the expansion of participating trial sites and use of the referral network.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what new personalised treatments for glioblastoma are being assessed.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for assessing new medicines to ensure they meet the required standards of quality, safety, and efficacy before they can be authorised for use in the United Kingdom. The MHRA conducts a rigorous, evidence‑based scientific review of all applications for marketing authorisation and assesses them against statutory timelines. Northwest Biotherapeutics has submitted a marketing authorisation application to the MHRA for DCVax®-L, an immunotherapy for glioblastoma. The MHRA cannot comment on individual applications while they are under assessment but is committed to enabling safe and effective new treatments to reach patients as quickly as possible once the necessary standards are met.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether all new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS based on an assessment of clinical and cost effectiveness. NICE aims wherever possible to issue recommendations on new medicines close to the time of licensing. NICE is in discussions with the manufacturer of DCVax-L, Northwest Biotherapeutics, about a potential appraisal subject to licensing.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average life expectancy is for (a) newly diagnosed and (b) recurrent glioblastoma patients in the NHS over the last 10 years.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) in NHS England, as the national cancer registry, collects diagnosis, treatment, and outcome data on cancer patients in England. The NDRS does not routinely publish statistics on life expectancy.

However, NHS England publishes survival data for all cancers, including brain cancer, which includes glioblastoma. Currently, glioblastoma is not included as a separate cancer group in our routine statistics.

The latest data shows one year survival after diagnosis is 41.7% and five‑year survival for brain cancer is 12.9%. The data can be found at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/cancer-survival-in-england/cancers-diagnosed-2016-to-2020-followed-up-to-2021

The Government recognises that glioblastoma is an aggressive and fast‑growing form of brain cancer with poor outcomes and is committed to improving outcomes and investing in research for brain cancers, including glioblastoma. The National Cancer Plan includes a strong focus on rarer and less common cancers, such as brain tumours, to drive earlier diagnosis, improved care, and better survival.

Found: bar-council-liz-truss-brexit-ruling-decision-serious- unjustified-attacks-judiciary-judges-high-court-a7399356.html; Harry Cole, ‘Iain Duncan Smith