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£110 million cancer research centre for Headington

Oxford University announced yesterday that a Precision Cancer Medicine Institute is intended to open in 2017 or 2018, following a £35 million grant from the British government. The Institute intends to research making treatment less invasive and more personalized, focussing on patients with early-stage cancers that currently have poor prognosis, and techniques that currently have limited application in the UK.

The centre’s location is not certain, but is likely to be near the Churchill Hospital, where there is already an NHS cancer centre, or at the University’s Old Road Campus.

The grant, fromHigher Education Funding Council for England through its UK Research Partnership Investment Fund, is to be bolstered with £75 million of investment and support from partners including Cancer Research UK, University of Florida Health Proton Therapy Institute, and six healthcare firms.

It will be part of the Oxford University Hospitals NHS trust, which includes the John Radcliffe and Churchill hospitals. The clinic will have a particular interest in Proton Therapy, in the news earlier this year with the story of Ashya King, a five year old boy with a brain tumour whose parents took him from hospital without medical consent to seek the treatment, which is presently only available in the UK for eye cancers.

It is one of several techniques the centre will trial, alongside genomics and molecular diagnostics, advanced cancer imaging, and new drugs. These would be carried out in early-stage patients, who would be referred from NHS doctors, alongside their current treatments, in weeks off prescribed treatments such as chemotherapy. Such methods are known as ‘widow-of-opportunity’ trials, and allow for comparison with the effectiveness of standard treatments. 

Professor Gillies McKenna, head of the Department of Oncology at Oxford University, said, “The Precision Cancer Medicine Institute aims to improve outcomes and increase cure rates for cancer patients. It will do this not only by making surgery and radiotherapy more precise and less invasive, but by designing new drug treatments that are more targeted and personalised to the characteristics of a patient’s particular tumour, and by using advanced imaging techniques to detect the earliest signs of response.

“Through the new institute we aim to undertake research that will help doctors get the right treatment, to the right patient, at the right time.”

Jonathan Michael, Chief Executive of Oxford University Hospitals, welcomed the news, saying, “staff in the University and NHS departments of Oncology already work very closely on the delivery of high quality and technologically advanced treatments and trials for our patients in the NHS cancer centre on the Churchill site.

“This new centre is a fantastic opportunity for our patients and staff to take part in clinical trials of cutting edge treatments. The close proximity of the centre to the NHS cancer centre and established clinical links will ensure that patient care is seamless across the two institutions.”

Universities, Science and Cities minister Greg Clark visited the Old Road Campus last week, saying: “This is a paradigm shifting moment, we hope, for research around the world. […] We are leading the world in the research in an area that has the potential to revolutionise the treatment of cancer.” He added, “If people are cured of cancer then this saves the cost of treating them and managing the condition when they have it.” 

Meanwhile, Hertford student Florence Kettle commented, “it’s great to hear that Oxford is taking a such leading role in investigating more ways to combat this terrible illness”.

 

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