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 increase research funding for bladder cancer.

Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department invests £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

Between the 2020/21 and 2024/25 financial years, the NIHR committed £6 million for new research and programmes into bladder cancer research projects. An example of this investment includes a £2.9 million award for ‘Combination chemotherapy versus Bacillus Calmette-Guérin for high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer a phase III multi-centre randomised controlled trial (COBRA)’. This study is researching whether gemcitabine and docetaxel delivered through intravesical therapy are typically recommended to patients who do not respond well to bacillus Calmette-Guerin treatment, a more common type of intravesical therapy that uses immunotherapy drugs to disrupt the processes that fuel bladder cancer growth.

The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including bladder cancer. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to the public and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.