Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what collaborative research they are currently funding in partnership with other countries into childhood brain tumours, including Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma; and whether this includes funding for access to clinical trials.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows eight research studies around Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, funded by research funding partners in the charity and public sectors since 2013 which have been supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR):
Study Title | Opening Date | Closure Date | Funders | Status |
Phase I trial of afatinib in paediatric patients with neuroectodermal tumours and rhabdomyosarcoma | 13/07/2015 | 05/05/2020 | Boehringer Ingelheim Ltd | Closed to Recruitment, Follow Up Complete |
A Phase I/II, Multicenter, Open-Label, Dose-Escalation Study of the Safety and Pharmacokinetics of Cobimetinib in Pediatric and Young Adult Patients with Previously Treated Solid Tumors | 25/08/2016 | 31/12/2018 | F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd | Closed to Recruitment, In Follow Up |
Biological Medicine for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma Eradication (Biomede) | 14/04/2017 | 29/09/2019 | Cancer Research UK | Closed to Recruitment, In Follow Up |
Phase Ib /II Clinical Trial of Nivolumab Monotherapy and Nivolumab in Combination with Ipilimumab in Pediatric Subjects with High Grade Primary CNS Malignancies | 14/08/2017 | 22/02/2019 | Bristol-Myers Squibb International Corporation | Closed to Recruitment, In Follow Up |
A PHASE 2 CLINICAL STUDY OF POMALIDOMIDE (CC-4047) MONOTHERAPY FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS WITH RECURRENT OR PROGRESSIVE PRIMARY BRAIN TUMORS | 17/10/2017 | 27/09/2018 | CELGENE CORPORATION | Closed to Recruitment, In Follow Up |
A Phase 1/2, Single-arm Study to Evaluate the Safety, Pharmacokinetics, and Antitumor Activity of Avapritinib in Pediatric Patients with Solid Tumors Dependent on KIT or PDGFRA Signaling | 15/02/2023 | 31/01/2025 | Blueprint Medicines Corporation | Suspended |
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*** Please note that the 2 commercial studies, due to the commercial sensitivity, cannot be shared more widely or made public.
NIHR provides infrastructure support to studies taking place in the National Health Service. For example, staff, research nurses, local networks and NHS trusts will work across many studies, to varying degrees. As a result, NIHR cannot provide precise information on expenditure.
The NIHR Clinical Research Network supports the delivery of high-quality research across the NHS, community and social care and public health organisations. It does this by meeting the costs of additional staff, facilities, equipment and support services.
In May 2018 the Government announced £40 million for brain tumour research as part of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission. The Government is committed to funding high-quality brain cancer research. The £40 million funding remains available.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the APPG on Brain Tumours Inquiry Report entitled Pathway to A Cure, whether his Department plans to work with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to encourage the inclusion of brain tumour patients in early phase cancer trials.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care welcomes the All-Party Parliamentary Group report, recommendations of which continue to be worked through with the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, and UK Research and Innovation and the Medical Research Council.
A series of new measures are to be introduced by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency with support from partners to make it faster and easier to gain approval and to run clinical trials in the United Kingdom. As part of this, comprehensive new guidance, co-designed with various stakeholder groups, will be introduced to accompany the new legislative measures. This will ensure that UK clinical trials work in partnership with patients and the public and are representative of the diversity of people who may benefit from a medicine if the data generated ultimately lead to regulatory approval. The guidance will outline how to include patients meaningfully into the design and conduct of trials, and how to achieve diversity in trials in a way that is proportionate and achieves the best results.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the APPG on Brain Tumours' report entitled Pathway to A Cure, whether his Department has taken steps to implement that report's recommendations on engaging healthcare professionals with research.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department welcomes the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) report, recommendations of which continue to be worked through with the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, UK Research and Innovation and the Medical Research Council (MRC), and with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
In February 2023 the APPG report recommended that NIHR and UKRI should build research capacity, encouraging and retaining talent through fellowships and research incentives. In July 2023, NIHR jointly funded with the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission (TJBCM), the first two TJBCM Neuro-Oncology Fellowships, a new Fellowship Programme to support high quality training in neuro-oncology clinical practice and research to ensure clinicians are equipped with the relevant research skills needed to lead neuro-oncology trials that change practice.
Other capacity-building initiatives underway include: the designation of 28 TJBCM adult Centres of Excellence within the National Health Service, creating a world-class network of brain tumour treatment and research centres to provide the best care and share best practice; the Tessa Jowell Academy Programme, a free national learning and networking digital platform for NHS brain tumour professionals to share excellence in research, treatment and care; and the TJBCM Brain Tumour Research Novel Therapeutics Accelerator programme, to review and provide guidance on the translation and development of novel treatments, guided by a multidisciplinary international group of experts.
The NIHR is continuing to work with the TJBCM to develop further capacity-building initiatives.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the APPG on Brain Tumours' report entitled Pathway to A Cure, whether his Department plans to implement a joint strategy for brain tumour research with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department welcomes the All-Party Parliamentary Group report, recommendations of which continue to be worked through with the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, UK Research and Innovation and the Medical Research Council (MRC), and with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
The report recommended action by the research funding agencies on coordinating activities and making funding available. We are taking steps to ensure that funders work closely together to coordinate work along the translational pathway, from the discovery and early translational science typically supported by the MRC, feeding through to the applied health and care research funded by the NIHR.
It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. As with other Government funders of health research, the NIHR does not allocate funding for specific disease areas. The level of research spend in a particular area, is driven by factors including scientific potential and the number and scale of successful funding applications.
Asked by: Dominic Raab (Conservative - Esher and Walton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 4 September 2023 to Question 195426 on Brain: Tumours, how much and what proportion of the National Institute for Health and Care Research's allocated spend was spent on research infrastructure in each year since 2018.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)’s infrastructure investment funds the world-class facilities, expertise, and skilled delivery workforce for research across the National Health Service and wider health and care system in England from early translational clinical research through to applied health and care research.
It is difficult to attribute this funding to specific disease and therapy areas as the staff and facilities funded through the NIHR infrastructure support research across disciplines. For example, the NIHR Clinical Research Network supported almost one million participants to take part in health and care research in England in 2022/23 across 5,000 studies and 30 specialties, and the 20 NIHR Biomedical Research Centres supported 8,700 experimental medicine studies in 2021/22.
Whilst audited data for NIHR expenditure for 2022/23 is not yet available, the following table shows the NIHR spend on research infrastructure each financial year between 2018/19 and 2021/22 as well the proportion of spend on research infrastructure compared to overall NIHR spend:
| 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | |
| Infrastructure spend | £521,892 | £545,974 | £548,613 | £541,361 | £615,077 |
| Total allocated spend | £1,012,711 | £1,012,920 | £1,036,723 | £1,116,137 | £1,259,436 |
| Infrastructure spend as proportion of total allocated spend | 52% | 54% | 53% | 49% | 49% |
Written Evidence Feb. 07 2024
Inquiry: Future cancerFound: go through a mandatory course on brain tumours.
Apr. 15 2024
Source Page: Brain Tumour Research Funding: FOI releaseFound: Brain Tumour Research Funding: FOI release
Apr. 15 2024
Source Page: Brain Tumour Research Funding: FOI releaseFound: Brain Tumour Research Funding: FOI release
Asked by: Sweeney, Paul (Scottish Labour - Glasgow)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how its NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care directorates decide how to allocate funds for research into specific cancers, such as brain tumours.
Answered by Minto, Jenni - Minister for Public Health and Women's Health
Within the Scottish Government, funding of Health and Care Research comes under the remit of the Chief Scientist Office (CSO).
The CSO's Translational Clinical Studies (TCS) Committee and the Health Improvement, Protection and Services Research (HIPS) Committee each meet twice per year to consider funding applications. Details of the application process are published on the CSO website.
https://www.cso.scot.nhs.uk/grant-funding/response-mode-funding-schemes/
Research funding is not allocated to any particular condition. The TCS and HIPS committees receive applications from across the clinical spectrum. All applications go through a process of independent expert review to allow funding decisions to be made. Applications on brain tumours are welcomed and go through the independent review process outlined above.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations of the APPG Report Brain Tumours–Pathway to a Cure, and in particular recommendation 6 with reference to paediatric cancer diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department welcomed the All-Party Parliamentary Group report and will continue to work through its recommendations with the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, UK Research and Innovation, the Medical Research Council, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
With regards to recommendation six, the NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including childhood brain tumours and paediatric diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma. The usual practice of the NIHR is not to ring-fence funds for specific disease areas, as research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.
We rely on researchers to submit high-quality research proposals. Given the relatively small brain tumour clinical research community, we have been taking action to grow the field. The NIHR is working closely with the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission in hosting customised workshops for researchers, and training for clinicians, to grow capacity for brain cancer research, attract new researchers, develop the community, and support researchers to submit high-quality research funding proposals.
The NIHR is committed to the involvement, engagement and participation of children and young people in research, supporting researchers and funders, as well as empowering children and young people to lead their own journey with research.
The NIHR, together with the United Kingdom health departments, the Little Princess Trust and Cancer Research UK, jointly fund Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres (ECMCs) to support the most promising innovations into the cancer medicines of tomorrow. For 2023 to 2028, the NIHR is providing £21.6 million in funding for the ECMCs in England, the ECMC Paediatric Network, and the Network Programme Office. Additionally, the NIHR Clinical Research Network cancer portfolio has a dedicated children and young people’s cancer subspecialty, which has a subspecialty lead who promotes and supports research within their local National Health Service trusts.
The Department has also now set up the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce to progress our mission to deliver world-leading cancer services. This dedicated work focusing on cancers affecting children and young people will explore research and innovation, which may include targeting research funding, reviewing children’s access to clinical trials, gaining greater access to data, and informing future therapies and treatments.