Campaigning

February 2018 saw three milestones on our journey to a cure.

GROUNDBREAKING REPORT AND INVESTMENT

There was a moving speech in the House of Lords by Baroness Tessa Jowell, a roundtable at the Cabinet Office led by Health Minister Lord O’Shaughnessy, and the publication of the long-awaited Task and Finish Working Group Report examining research into brain tumours by the Department for Health & Social Care (DHSC).

Political momentum reached new heights with the announcement of £45 million of funding for research into brain tumours, jointly financed by the DHSC and Cancer Research UK.

The Task and Finish Working Group was established following our unprecedented e-petition where 120,129 signatories demanded more investment in brain tumour research. Professor Chris Whitty, who led the work of the Group, said: “This is a hugely complex and challenging issue, but one that everyone around the table is dedicated to seeing progress on. This Report is an important staging post on a considerable journey which we all agree needs to be made. It is heartening to realise this opportunity to catalyse change”. At a recent All-Party Parliamentary Group on Brain Tumours meeting, he added: “At this moment in time, a total cure is not within our easy grasp, but in common with progress in other cancers, great gains can be had in both extending the lifespan of those with brain tumours and also normalising their life as much as possible.” Lord O’Shaughnessy, who received the Report on behalf of the Government, added: “The outcomes for brain tumours and cancers are shocking. This isn’t an issue that is going away. If we don’t crack this, we are never going to find a cure for cancer.”

Included in the Task and Finish Working Group’s conclusions were key areas that Brain Tumour Research has been focusing on:

• Dedicated brain tumour research centres are an effective way of expanding and developing research capacity and capability • The current processes for collection, storage and sharing of brain tumour tissue, blood samples and clinical data are not optimal for the latest research requirements • Certain drugs, originally developed for other conditions but with potential for the effective treatment of brain tumours, should be repurposed where the evidence supports it • Appropriate time should be ring-fenced to allow consultants to carry out research

If you’d like to help us ensure that these reforms are implemented and hold the Government to account, please sign up as a Brain Tumour Research activist at:

www.braintumourresearch.org/campaigning/campaign-with-us