£1.5 million boost for cancer centre

Cancer experts have received a major funding boost to help develop new medicines.

The £1.5 million investment will help fund pioneering research at the Edinburgh Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) for the next five years.

The renewed funding comes from Cancer Research UK and the Chief Scientist Office.

New therapies

Investment will allow doctors and scientists in Edinburgh to develop better cancer treatments. It will also enable them to test new ways of detecting and monitoring the disease.

We are thrilled that Edinburgh has secured this funding. This award represents a critical investment in our research infrastructure, equipping us with the key laboratory and clinical tools needed to advance the understanding and treatment of cancer for the benefit of people in Scotland and beyond.

Professor David CameronCo-Lead, Edinburgh Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre

Clinical trials

The Edinburgh ECMC is one of 20 centres around the UK focused on creating new cancer therapies and vaccines and testing them in a clinical setting.

In the past ten years, ECMCs around the UK have delivered 1,500 early phase clinical trials of new therapies, spanning 35 different types of cancer. This has enabled 18,000 patients to access innovative new treatments.

The Centres have raised more than £150 million towards clinical trials and pre-clinical research in experimental cancer medicine.

Early phase clinical trials are essential if new treatments for cancer are to be developed. The ECMC are uniquely placed to deliver these trials, and this investment means that Scotland will continue to play a leading role in the ECMC network.

Dr Alan McNairSenior Research Manager, Chief Scientist Office

Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre building

Partnership

The Edinburgh ECMC is a partnership between the University of Edinburgh and NHS Lothian, based at the Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre at the Western General Hospital.

A bit more from Professor David Cameron

What does this mean for Edinburgh?

"The funding supports work in early phase and translational cancer trials. This will allow us to test new medicines in cancer patients, and explore the biological changes in patients and their cancers when undergoing cancer treatments. It will also allow us to attract funding from academic or commercial sources to run studies."

What are your hopes for ECMC?

"My hopes for ECMC are that we grow our portfolio of studies, and expand the number that are home-grown, particularly where we can design and run a study that tests novel findings that emerge from pre-clinical science that happened in Edinburgh."