UK spent only £15m on brain tumour research after promising £40m
Ministers have spent only £15m in five years on research into tackling brain tumours, the biggest killer of adults and children under 40, while boasting about delivering £40m, MPs have found.
The revelation emerged in a damning report seen by the Guardian that is due to be published this week by the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on brain tumours after a two-year inquiry.
The research system is “unfit for purpose”, patients are being denied access to clinical trials, and families have been let down by promises of “millions of pounds of investment which hasn’t materialised”, the report says.
The APPG report also highlights a “valley of death” in which potential new treatments developed in the laboratory “fail to reach patients” because of unnecessary red tape. Some children are being denied access to clinical trials, and the national brain tumour research database is “not reliable”.
Source: The Guardian, 27 February 2023