Cancer researchers in Newcastle have been given £2.7m to run clinical trials to find exciting new treatments which could tackle the disease.
The funding for the city's Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) provides hope for people who might have been diagnosed with as yet untreatable forms of cancer. The research team has welcomed the funding boost as something which could help thousands.
The ECMC is a partnership between Newcastle University and the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust - and it is led by Prof Ruth Plummer, who also helped set up and runs the Sir Bobby Robson Cancer Trials Research Centre at the Freeman.
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The funding - which totals £2.719,297 - will be used to support doctors and scientists to find "the cancer treatments of the future" to save the lives of children and adults. It comes from Cancer Research UK, the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the Little Princess Trust.
It will support the development of new treatments including immunotherapy, along with improvements to existing treatments. Prof Ruth Plummer said: "We are delighted Newcastle has secured this funding. Clinical trials are crucial to new and improved treatments becoming adopted as standard treatments by the NHS and this funding will allow us to further advance how we can treat cancer effectively.
"Thousands of patients have been provided with access to new drugs and therapies through the Newcastle ECMC and this funding will benefit people with cancer in the North East and beyond."
In the past, money like this from Cancer Research UK has helped develop groundbreaking drugs like tamoxifen which is now an essential breast cancer treatment which helps ensure two-thirds of those diagnosed with breast cancer this year are predicted to survive at least 20 years with the disease.
Dr Iain Foulkes, Executive Director of Research and Innovation at Cancer Research UK, said: "We are proud to be supporting an expansion of our successful ECMC network, bringing together vast medical and scientific expertise to translate the latest scientific discoveries from the lab into the clinic.
"The ECMC network is delivering the cancer treatments of the future, bringing new hope to people affected by cancer. The trials taking place today will give the next generation the best possible chance of beating cancer."
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