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 ensure a.) patients with pancreatic cancer can easily access information about relevant clinical trials and b.) they are automatically linked onto clinical trials where eligible.

The Department is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with pancreatic cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.

The Department funded National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds research and research infrastructure which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research. The NIHR provides an online service called Be Part of Research which promotes participation in health and care research, by allowing users to search for relevant studies and register their interest.

The National Cancer Plan for England sets out the Government’s ambition to deliver world class cancer care through world class research, including delivering breakthroughs for rare and less survivable cancers. Throughout the lifetime of this plan, we will ensure that every cancer patient gets the opportunity to access relevant clinical trials quickly, fairly, and easily.

As set out in this plan, the Government will implement the Rare Cancers Act 2026, including Section 3 of the act which will involve developing a service to ensure rare cancer patients, including those with pancreatic cancer, can be automatically contacted about clinical trials. This will allow data sharing from the National Disease Registration Service to the NIHR Be Part of Research registry tool.

The United Kingdom continues to see pioneering pancreatic cancer studies, including research led by the University of Birmingham into personalised mRNA cancer vaccines, with further information available at the following link:

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2026/can-mrna-vaccines-fight-pancreatic-cancer

A specific example is the CRISTAL-APC trial to improve treatment for people living with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, supported by NIHR's Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre and Clinical Research Facility.

Implementing the provisions of the Rare Cancers Act will make it easier for clinical trials on pancreatic cancer to take place in England.