Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to accelerate the use of adaptive trials for brain tumour patients.

The United Kingdom is at the forefront of the international field in novel and innovative clinical trial designs, including as adaptive trials. The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has a wide range of activities focused on developing innovative trial designs, including adaptive trials, within the NIHR Biomedical Research Centres, Clinical Research Facilities, Clinical Trial Units, and the joint NIHR-Medical Research Council Methodology Research Programme. These form a growing proportion of the NIHR Clinical Research Network portfolio, especially in cancer. In addition, the UK Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres (jointly funded by Cancer Research UK and the UK Health Departments) have brought together stakeholders such as the Medicines and Health products Regulatory Agency, the Health Research Authority, industry, and researchers to develop consensus and guidance on efficient processes for developing, managing, and regulating such studies.

In April the NIHR committed to invest £40 million in brain tumour research over the next five years. Action will be taken right across the NIHR portfolio to support a wide range of research, including adaptive clinical trials. In doing this the NIHR will work closely with its partners, including other Government funders, and major charities such as Brain Tumour Research, The Brain Tumour Charity and Cancer Research UK.