Families across the UK who are facing brain cancer cannot afford to wait for progress to be made on treatment.
That is why the Prime Minister and Health Secretary have met with Archie Goodburn, a 25-year-old British champion swimmer with inoperable brain cancer. They came away from this discussion even more determined to change the state of treatment than before.
This Government owes it to every family facing this devastating disease to do better, which is why we have announced:
- Immediate launch of an expert review, led by Professor Anthony Charmers, conducted by leading brain cancer experts into changes for patients since 2018 and factors halting progress (to report back within three months)
- An upcoming National Action Plan to progress new treatments from labs to patient care, shaped by the expert review’s findings
- Assigning a new National Brain Cancer Clinical Lead, appointed by the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), to drive efforts forward
- Requesting that the completion of the MHRA’s review into regulation of medicines that treat rare conditions (“Orphan Drugs”) be completed in two years rather than the previously outlined three in order to help patients get promising new treatments sooner
The UK must be a better place to run clinical trials. That is why this Government has also announced that patients, families and charities will help design a drive to get more people taking part, and the Health Secretary will host a roundtable with researchers, clinicians and charities.
Labour is committed to working work with researchers and industry to make this happen and from next year DHSC will partner with Cancer Research UK to make Britain a world leader in brain cancer study.
Stephen Morgan MP
