Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what action they have taken to incentivise investment and reduce barriers in brain cancer research for the pharmaceutical and life science sector in the areas of (1) transitional research, (2) early stage research, (3) advanced novel therapeutics, (4) optimisation of existing treatments, and (5) repurposing drug trials.

Government responsibility for delivering brain cancer research is shared between the Department for 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). The Medical Research Council (MRC) funds fundamental discovery science through to the development and testing of new diagnostics, therapeutic interventions, and preventive measures whilst the NIHR funds applied health and care research that turns discoveries into new or improved treatments, diagnostics, medical technologies, or services.

To bridge the gap between early findings and clinical practice, the NIHR supports translational research focused on patient-centred research and healthcare. NIHR Biomedical Research Centres take leading-edge cancer research from the laboratory and rapidly translate it into clinical trials. The NIHR Innovation Observatory scans for new opportunities to identify emerging interventions or those with the potential for repurposing.

In September 2024, the NIHR announced a new approach to transform the outcomes for patients and their families who are living with brain tumours, ultimately reducing the lives lost to cancer. This will be done by maximising the United Kingdom’s clinical trials potential and working with the life sciences sector to make the UK a leading location for brain tumour research.

The UKRI offers a broad range of funding opportunities to support brain tumour research, including in partnership with industry. The MRC has actively engaged with brain tumour researchers to encourage applications The MRC has also identified the need for better disease models which informed a recent MRC-led funding opportunity to improve human in vitro models, and which resulted in two awards that will explore improving the use of human brain tumour tissue in research.

The Government is committed to furthering our investment and support for high-quality brain tumour research, ensuring that funding is used in the most meaningful and impactful way, and the NIHR continues to welcome further high-quality proposals from researchers to inform approaches to prevention, treatment, and care in relation to brain cancer.

The Department of Health and Social Care is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with brain cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments. The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will include further details on how the National Health Service will improve diagnosis and outcomes for all cancer patients in England, including for those with brain cancer.

The Government also supports the Rare Cancers Private Members Bill. The bill will make it easier for clinical trials on brain cancer to take place in England, by ensuring the patient population can be more easily contacted by researchers.