Millions invested into Oxford to help find new cancer treatments

Cancer Research UK and the National Institute for Health and Care Research are investing millions into The University of Oxford’s Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC).

Distributed across the next five years, both organisations intend to invest over £3m to the university. The large sum will allow Oxford to continue to explore experimental treatments – including immunotherapies – for various cancers.

Alongside researching cancer treatments, the funding will help trial interventions and improve existing therapies.

Oxford is part of a network of 17 ECMCs across the UK, which work in conjunction with local NHS facilities to deliver clinical trials of promising new treatments.  

Sarah Blagden, Professor of Experimental Oncology at the University of Oxford, and Oxford ECMC Centre Lead said: ‘We are delighted to have been awarded this generous funding from CRUK. This means we can continue to test the newest and best cancer treatments of the future and can also test ways to prevent cancer or enable its early diagnosis.

‘We are already making headway in this area but to have CRUK’s endorsement is wonderful.

‘The rich research environment available in Oxford can be applied to our clinical studies so that we can help understand not only if treatments work but how they work. This is vital if we want to make important cancer discoveries and advance the way cancers are treated in the future.

‘One in two people in the UK will be diagnosed with cancer within our lifetimes so finding new effective treatment is vital.’

As well as Oxford attempting to up their game with regards to cancer research, the latest figures released by the NHS show women in North Yorkshire should be taking control of attending their cervical cancer screening. The data shows one in four women are failing to respond to their check-up invitations.

Despite GP’s claiming there is a 95% chance of survival if cervical cancer is caught early, data from the NHS shows only 77% of 25- to 49-year-olds have booked their chechs. However, the uptake for 50 – 60-year-olds sits at a higher rate of 78.7%.

Against this backdrop, The Humber and North Yorkshire Cancer Alliance have begun offering free awareness workshops which are available online for everyone. They are designed to educate people and the signs and symptoms of cervical cancer, as well as providing advice about screening tests.  

Dr Dan Cottingham, CRUK GP Lead for the Cancer Alliance, said: ‘Cervical cancer is the most preventable cancer and cervical screening can help identify changes in your cervix and the cells before cervical cancer starts.

‘It’s important to educate and support people to have the confidence to come forward for their screening, which is why we’ve decided to offer a series of bitesize awareness sessions.

‘Some people can be nervous about cervical screening because they are unsure of what it entails. Offering specific sessions helps us to alleviate people’s concerns and encourage them to attend their screening, which can catch any problems at an earlier stage when they are easier to treat.’

Photo by Accuray and Angiola Harry