Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions her Department has had with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on funding for (a) the Lobular Moon Shot Project and (b) other research into lobular breast cancer.

The Department invests £1.3 billion per year into health research, with more spent on cancer than any other disease group, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). We work closely with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Medical Research Council (MRC), who are responsible for channelling a large proportion of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s investments in this area. Our officials meet regularly to discuss a wide range of our investments, including into lobular and other breast cancers, to drive the maximum collective research impact on policy, practice, and individual lives. While research to understand the mechanisms of cancer, including lobular breast cancer, is largely funded through UKRI and the MRC, the NIHR invests in translational and implementation research to drive innovations into policy and practice.

Launched in 2023, the Lobular Moonshot Project is a high-level funding proposal and campaign to raise money to support the Institute for Cancer Research (ICR), with whom we meet regularly, to invest in fellowships and projects in lobular breast cancer. We are proud to have invested £29 million in the ICR and Royal Marsden NIHR Biological Research Centre in 2022, supporting their efforts to strengthen research into cancer, again including lobular breast cancer. This is complemented by wider investments into breast cancer research, for example, a £1.3 million project to determine whether an abbreviated form of breast magnetic resonance imaging can detect breast cancers missed by screening through mammography, such as lobular breast cancer. Our support to the NIHR Clinical Research Network has enabled the delivery of 10 further lobular breast-cancer related studies.

Additionally, the NIHR supports breast cancer research funded by research partners in the charity and public sectors through the NIHR’s Clinical Research Network (CRN). Over the last five years, the CRN has supported delivery of 10 lobular breast cancer-related studies conducted by other partners. While the NIHR cannot respond to direct solicitations for funding, instead commissioning on the basis of research excellence, we would welcome more applications from researchers on lobular breast cancer, including from the ICR. The NIHR funds research on cancer prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment, and care, which saves lives.