Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that pancreatic cancer patients have access to information about clinical trials.

The Department is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with pancreatic cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.

Government responsibility for delivering cancer research is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), including the Medical Research Council (MRC).  As well as funding research itself, the Department of Health and Social Care invests significantly in research expertise and capacity, specialist facilities, support services and collaborations to support and deliver research in England, known as NIHR infrastructure.

The United Kingdom continues to see pioneering pancreatic cancer studies, including research led by the University of Birmingham into personalised mRNA cancer vaccines. More information on this research is available at the following link:

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2026/can-mrna-vaccines-fight-pancreatic-cancer

Another specific example is the CRISTAL-APC trial to improve treatment for people living with stage four pancreatic cancer, supported by NIHR’s Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre and Clinical Research Facility.

To help patients identify and participate in research opportunities, the NIHR provides an online service called Be Part of Research, which allows users to search for relevant studies and register their interest.

The National Cancer Plan for England sets out the Government’s ambition to deliver world class cancer care through world class research, including delivering breakthroughs for rare and less survivable cancers. Throughout the lifetime of this plan, we will ensure that every cancer patient gets the opportunity to access relevant clinical trials quickly, fairly, and easily. We will improve patient and clinician awareness of current clinical trials through targeted campaigns, and the use of new digital tools. We will also utilise general practice (GP) recruitment into clinical trials, allowing patients to join in research in a GP surgery, neighbourhood health centre, or potentially from within their own home.

As set out in this plan, the Government will implement the Rare Cancers Act 2026, including Section 3 of the act which will involve developing a service to ensure rare cancer patients, including those with pancreatic cancer, can be automatically contacted about clinical trials.

Implementing the provisions of the Rare Cancers Act will make it easier for clinical trials on pancreatic cancer to take place in England.