{"id":27236,"date":"2021-07-09T16:54:24","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T16:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/?p=23296"},"modified":"2024-11-03T15:14:35","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:14:35","slug":"turning-the-life-sciences-vision-into-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/turning-the-life-sciences-vision-into-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning the Life Sciences Vision into reality"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Michelle<\/div>\n

Cancer is one of the greatest global challenges.<\/p>\n

No one organisation, sector or even country can solve it alone. Just like what we\u2019ve seen with the pandemic, global collaboration and proper investment are what\u2019s needed to drive progress in cancer too.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a terrible year. But even in the worst times, there are silver linings. Some are even predicting that we may be on the cusp of the \u2018biological century\u2019, moving into a new, advanced era of healthcare. And now, more than ever, science is widely seen as our exit strategy from the pandemic \u2013 our route back to some normality. And rightly so.<\/p>\n

The UK Government seems to agree, and their Life Sciences Vision<\/a> published this week sets a clear target for increasing their investment in R&D and supporting UK life sciences. At Cancer Research UK, we support this ambition, and I was pleased to be part of a working group recently which oversaw this Life Sciences Vision. So here\u2019s my perspective on what that means for cancer.<\/p>\n

A focus on cancer<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s encouraging to see cancer listed as a top priority in the Vision \u2013 something I strongly pushed for. We can\u2019t let cancer slip down the priority list through the pandemic. About 1000 people are diagnosed<\/a> with cancer every day in the UK, and although we\u2019ve seen improvements in survival, progress wasn\u2019t rapid enough even before the pandemic. Between April 2020 and March 2021, we estimate that nearly 45,000 fewer patients started cancer treatment compared to the same time pre-pandemic, so we cannot risk losing ground.<\/p>\n

In terms of research itself, the Life Sciences Vision backs up the case we have been making for early detection of cancer and early intervention<\/a>, which will be vital to bringing change for cancer patients. It has been a challenging field, as researchers strive to understand cancer risk and find ways to detect cancer before symptoms appear. But the progress we will make will be worth it, and extra support like incentives for industry and investors is part of the solution, as well as speeding up the adoption of new early detection technology.<\/p>\n

Collaboration is key<\/h3>\n

That Life Sciences Vision working group included Government, academia, industry and medical research charities like Cancer Research UK. To make progress at the pace we want, all four of our sectors must be working together, to a common goal.<\/p>\n

A few months ago, the last Secretary of State spoke about the \u2018Holy Trinity\u2019 for life sciences \u2013 academia, industry and Government. But that\u2019s an incomplete list. The UK charity sector is strong because of the involvement of charities, and it would have been a mistake not to include us. We\u2019re a critical partner on this.<\/p>\n

Cancer Research UK alone funds roughly half of all cancer-related research in the UK, and our spinouts have secured a total of \u00a32.3 billion of external investment. There\u2019s no way of reaching the Government\u2019s own target of 2.4% of UK GDP spent on research and development without medical research charities.<\/p>\n

So, as we move forward into delivering this Vision, we hope the new Secretary of State, Sajid Javid, has a quartet in mind instead of a holy trinity.<\/p>\n

Next step: investment<\/h3>\n

We\u2019ve seen some very positive announcements over the last few months. The Life Sciences Vision. An ambition to reach \u00a322bn of governmental spending on cancer. The first ever bilateral UK-US summit on cancer and the Advanced Research and Invention Agency<\/a>, which aims to fund high risk\/high reward research.<\/p>\n

But what we haven\u2019t yet seen is investment.<\/p>\n

We know the economic situation is tight \u2013 and the Treasury has a difficult job on its hands as the UK recovers from the pandemic. As the Government recognises, life sciences is one area where the UK can truly lead the world \u2013 and we can\u2019t do that without investment. The key test of whether this is a true priority for the Government is November\u2019s Spending Review, when they\u2019ll outline their spending priorities for the next year.<\/p>\n

The proposed Life Sciences Investment Programme will be a welcome boost to science companies in the UK. But success also means investment in clinical research capacity<\/a>. For example, we need to support the research career pathways accessible to NHS staff, fund research infrastructure, and target disparities in research activity around the country.<\/p>\n

In the wake of scientific success against COVID and commitments to the future of the life sciences, we must grasp the opportunity to come together across sectors and pool our expertise. The ambition is there; the scientific foundations are in place and we have the political will.<\/p>\n

If the Government backs this up with the necessary investment, the sky is the limit.<\/p>\n

More on this topic<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cancer is one of the greatest global challenges. No one organisation, sector or even country can solve it alone. Just like what we\u2019ve seen with the pandemic, global collaboration and proper investment are what\u2019s needed to drive progress in cancer too. It\u2019s been a terrible year. But even in the worst times, there are silver […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5137],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27236"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45253,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27236\/revisions\/45253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}