The search for new cancer treatments in Manchester is to receive a major funding investment of up to £3m, providing future hope for people diagnosed with the disease.
Manchester Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) will receive the funding over the next five years to help doctors and scientists find the cancer treatments of the future.
The funding has been made possible by a partnership between Cancer Research UK and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
Manchester is part of a network of 17 ECMCs across the UK, funded by Cancer Research UK, which deliver clinical trials of promising new treatments. Since 2007, when the network was first established, around 30,000 patients have taken part in 2,100 trials.
The funding will allow new, experimental treatments – including immunotherapies – for a wide variety of cancers to be developed, as well as improve existing treatments.
ECMCs work in conjunction with local NHS facilities to provide access to cutting-edge cancer treatments. Testing these treatments helps to establish new ways of detecting and monitoring the disease and to evaluate how it responds to the treatment.
Manchester ECMC co-lead, Prof Caroline Dive said:
“We are delighted Manchester 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 life-saving drugs and therapies through the Manchester ECMC and this funding will benefit people with cancer in the North West and beyond.”
