INVESTING FOR THE GREATEST IMPACT

Plugging the gaps

INVESTING FOR THE GREATEST IMPACT

Our supporters trust us to make the best possible decisions around where to invest their kind donations so that we can create the best future possible for every individual and family who is or will be affected by prostate cancer.

To ensure we continue to spend our funds where they will have the most potential impact, in 2020 we completed and published a comprehensive review of the funding and knowledge gaps in prostate cancer research. Having this solid evidence base for our funding decisions is even more valuable in a time that the medical charity sector as a whole is likely to face a significant funding shortfall due to COVID-19.

OUR FINDINGS AND HOW WE ARE ACTING ON THEM

Our report highlights significant gaps in our knowledge of prostate cancer. At PCR, we are focusing our attention on the gaps in the scientific knowledge of the disease which are standing in the way of better outcomes for patients, including bone metastasis, keeping current therapies working, and mitigating the harms of treatment side effects.

The COVID-19 pandemic and UK lockdowns are leading to delays in diagnosis, meaning more men are likely to be diagnosed with cancer which is at a more advanced stage, making these research priorities even more urgent.

Scientists at all career stages struggle to get funding for more innovative ideas, and most UK funding is disproportionately concentrated in the ‘Golden Triangle’ of London, Oxford, and Cambridge. Scientists outside this region also report additional challenges in recruitment and forming collaborations. We also confirmed a number of challenges faced by early career researchers and identified a career stage at which it is particularly challenging for younger scientists to step onto the next rung of the ladder.

Our most recent grant call highlighted these unmet needs and as a result, we are funding two highly innovative bone metastasis projects. We continually monitor our processes and committees to guard against institutional or location bias, so that our funding goes to the best science, wherever the team is based. We provided a collaboration and networking event, and training to our scientists in 2020, and will continue to do so in 2021/22. We will also start a grant call in 2021 focused on the career stage at which we are most at risk of losing talented researchers from the field.

For more information on the challenges uncovered by our research and how we are meeting them, please download from pcr.org.uk/ecosystem or contact us for a copy of the report.

Between 2016/17 and 2017/18 there was a 13.5% decrease in money spent on prostate cancer in the UK, versus a 3.6% decrease of overall specific cancer site funding

Prostate cancer receives only 8% of the funding spent on specific cancer sites*