University of Oxford gets funding for new cancer treatments

Oxford is part of a network of 17 ECMCs across the UK which work in conjunction with local NHS facilities to deliver clinical trials of promising new treatments.

The new funding will allow Oxford to continue to explore novel, experimental treatments – including immunotherapies – for a wide variety of cancers, as well as trial interventions and improving existing therapies.

Commenting on the news, Sarah Blagden, Professor of Experimental Oncology at the University of Oxford and Oxford ECMC centre lead, said: ‘We are delighted to have been awarded this generous funding from CRUK. This means we can continue to test the newest and best cancer treatments of the future and can also test ways to prevent cancer or enable its earlier diagnosis. We are already making headway in this area but to have CRUK’s endorsement is wonderful.

‘The rich research environment available in Oxford can be applied to our clinical studies so that we can help understand not only if treatments work but how they work. This is vital if we want to make important cancer discoveries and advance the way cancers are treated in the future.

‘One in two people in the UK will be diagnosed with cancer within our lifetimes so finding new effective treatments is vital.’