Government plans could boost brain tumour treatment

Brain Tumour UK has welcomed an announcement by David Cameron that could give cancer patients access to treatments before full approval for doctors to prescribe them.

Mr Cameron has announced a £180m fund to help commercialise medical breakthroughs, and plans to consult on an "early access scheme" to ensure that drugs for some of the sickest patients would be fast-tracked through what is normally a long bureaucratic process.

Professor Colin Blakemore, President of Brain Tumour UK, says: “We welcome this announcement as it could potentially be hugely beneficial for brain tumour patients.”

Although there are not many brain tumour drugs in the pipeline that could be given to patients now under such a scheme, says Professor Blakemore, it would benefit brain tumour patients in the long run.

An historic lack of investment in brain tumour research means that not only are there not many brain tumour drugs, but the drugs in development are at very early stages or are neglected by pharmaceutical and biotech companies because of the high cost of clinical trials and the long time that they take to complete.

“The Government’s scheme could stimulate the development and flow of brain tumour treatments because it could encourage biotech and pharmaceutical companies to incur more of a risk, in the knowledge that there is a fast track process, which would make clinical trials speedier and less costly,” he says.

Scientific research into brain tumours is under-funded, both in relation to the number of people affected and the life-limiting nature of malignant tumours in particular.

Brain Tumour UK and other organisations are campaigning to increase government research funding. It is one of the key asks in the manifesto for people affected by brain tumours.