Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of research funding allocated to pancreatic cancer given its rates of (a) mortality, (b) survival and (c) late diagnosis; and whether he plans to increase that funding.

The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and in 2024/25, spent £141,649,374 on cancer research, signalling its high priority. This includes studies that focus specifically on pancreatic cancer as well as studies that are relevant or include pancreatic cancer. For example, between financial years 2020/21 and 2024/25, the NIHR committed £1.5 million to specific pancreatic cancer studies. The NIHR has also invested £1.9 million in research to detect early stages of gastrointestinal cancers, which includes pancreatic cancer. This non-invasive breath test will aim to streamline the referral process for primary care.

NIHR’s wider investments in research infrastructure, including facilities, services and the research workforce, supported the delivery of 160 pancreatic cancer research studies and enabled over 8,200 people to participate in potentially life-changing research during this time period. This includes support for the PemOla trial, which is the first to explore using precision immunotherapies to treat pancreatic cancer. More information about the trial is available at the following link:

https://cambridgebrc.nihr.ac.uk/2025/07/18/pancreatic-cancer-precision-medicine-trial/