Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 22 May 2026 to Question 506 on Cancer: Vaccination, how many of those 15 companies were included in the 12 who attended the 2025 webinar.

The Cancer Vaccines Launch Pad (CVLP) is open to supporting immunotherapy trials for all cancer types, including brain cancer, and welcomes conversations with interested companies.

NHS England hosted a webinar in 2025, and representatives from 12 pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies attended. Since then, discussions have been held with 15 companies to explore potential support from the CVLP. NHS England cannot release the names of the companies as this is commercially sensitive information. Some of the 15 companies may have had an interest in developing brain cancer vaccines, however, this information was not directly shared as clinical pipelines are often commercially sensitive. In addition to the 12 companies who attended the webinar in 2025, discussions have been held with a further four.

The National Cancer Plan committed to establishing a Cancer Clinical Trials Accelerator Programme to increase the speed, scale, and reliability of delivery of cancer clinical trials. The newly planned Cancer Clinical Trials Accelerator Programme will be embedded in the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) Industry Hub, which will streamline the pathway for both industry and academic investment.

NHS England is currently working with the NIHR on the design of this Accelerator and communications on this new support infrastructure will follow. In the meantime, any company interested in support for recruitment into their cancer clinical trials can contact the CVLP via the email address England.cancervaccinelaunchpad@nhs.net.