Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to reduce the disparity in survival rates for brain tumour patients compared to other higher funded cancers.
In May 2018, the Government announced a £40 million investment over five years for brain tumour research as part of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Since then, the NIHR has received 69 applications for research funding in relation to brain tumours, with 10 applications funded and seven applications under consideration. All applications that are fundable have been funded.
We anticipate that the use of 5-aminolevulinic acid will increase which will benefit brain tumour patients. This is a brain cancer treatment used to assist surgeons to differentiate between tumour and normal brain tissue, increasing the amount of tumour resected during surgery.