Scientists at the University of Southampton have received a major funding boost of up to £1.8million to support them in their fight against cancer.
The funding for the Southampton Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) will enable researchers to develop treatments of the future – including immunotherapies – as well as improving existing treatments.
The ECMC is made up of experts from the University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust who work together to provide patients with 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.
Southampton is part of a network of 17 ECMCs across the UK, funded by Cancer Research UK, which deliver clinical trials of promising new treatment. Since 2007, when the network was first established, around 30,000 patients have taken part in 2,100 trials.
Southampton ECMC lead, Professor Andrew Davies, said: “We are delighted Southampton 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 Southampton ECMC and this funding will benefit people with cancer across the South Coast region and beyond.”
Professor Diana Eccles, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton, said: “For more than 40 years, Southampton scientists have been at the forefront of cancer research, developing new treatments and running clinical trials, to ensure more people can be rid of this terrible disease.
“I am very proud that we have received this important funding that will enable us to continue our research at pace in the coming years.”
The funding has been made possible by a partnership between Cancer Research UK, the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the Little Princess Trust specifically for children’s cancers.
