{"id":2662,"date":"2019-05-16T10:40:45","date_gmt":"2019-05-16T10:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/?p=2662"},"modified":"2020-02-18T15:55:34","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T15:55:34","slug":"funding-cuts-threaten-cancer-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/oncology\/funding-cuts-threaten-cancer-treatment\/","title":{"rendered":"20% funding cuts threaten cancer progress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"background-color:#f2f2f2;color:#32373c\" class=\"wp-block-atomic-blocks-ab-profile-box round ab-has-avatar ab-font-size-14 ab-block-profile ab-profile-columns\"><div class=\"ab-profile-column ab-profile-avatar-wrap\"><div class=\"ab-profile-image-wrap\"><figure class=\"ab-profile-image-square\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"ab-profile-avatar wp-image-2663\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2019\/05\/07211409\/Cancer-Trials-Ireland-main-Bryan-Hennessy7.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2019\/05\/07211409\/Cancer-Trials-Ireland-main-Bryan-Hennessy7.jpg 200w, https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2019\/05\/07211409\/Cancer-Trials-Ireland-main-Bryan-Hennessy7-125x125.jpg 125w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/figure><\/div><\/div><div class=\"ab-profile-column ab-profile-content-wrap\"><h2 class=\"ab-profile-name\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Professor Bryan Hennessey<\/h2><p class=\"ab-profile-title\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Clinical Lead, Cancer Trials Ireland<\/p><div class=\"ab-profile-text\"><\/div><ul class=\"ab-social-links\"><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>We are standing in the cusp of a new dawn of personalised treatments. This could revolutionise the way we treat cancer \u2013 but a lack of investment threatens to hold Ireland behind. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p>Rapid advances in medical science mean we now understand more about cancer than ever. A new generation of personalised medicine stands at the ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But as innovation comes to a global head, a lack of clinical trial investment means Ireland risks getting left behind, said Professor Bryan Hennessy, Consultant Medical Oncologist and Clinical Lead at Cancer Trials Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-very-dark-gray-color\">He says: \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/oncology\/can-ireland-become-a-leader-in-clinical-research\">Cancer treatment<\/a> is moving towards a position where it&#8217;s based on a detailed understanding of the molecular abnormalities that drive cancer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCancer is many\ndifferent diseases and everyone\u2019s cancer is unique. The more we see and\nunderstand these differences, the more targeted and personalised treatments we\ncan develop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Clinical trials need more government funding <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The only way to develop these innovative new treatments, he went on, was by conducting robust clinical trials \u2013 but a lack of government and Department of Health funding is making that increasingly difficult to do in Ireland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe biggest barrier to carrying out cancer trials at the moment is funding; pure and simple. We have a National Cancer Strategy that aims to increase the proportion of people with cancer who go onto trials, but we are going in the wrong direction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCancer Trials Ireland have seen significant cuts, of 20%, in funding since the economic recession. The percentage of people we are able to put onto cancer trials is actually dropping.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It means that Ireland\nrisks being \u201cleft behind\u201d in terms of the introduction of new treatments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What\u2019s more, it contributes to a disparity in the options available to people with the more common cancers, such as breast, lung and bowel, and those diagnosed with rarer forms of the disease, like pancreatic and kidney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>More focus on less common cancers is needed <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Professor Hennessy explains\nthat Cancer Trials Ireland, which runs most of the country\u2019s oncology studies,\nrelies on funding from the Health Research Board and generous donations from\nthe Irish Cancer Society, St Luke\u2019s Institute for Cancer Research, the\npharmaceutical industry and philanthropists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cancer.ie\/cancer-research\/about-our-cancer-research\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Industry funding (opens in a new tab)\">Industry funding<\/a> ticks most of the boxes for common cancers, because that\u2019s where they get the biggest return. While the industry has its own policies to support independently run home-grown trials by funding Investigator Initiated Trials in research groups like ours, it&#8217;s the government and Department of Health funding that allows us to keep the momentum going in less common cancers and offer options to patients that have none right now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSo, we&#8217;ve got this new generation of innovative treatments coming out for a certain number of cancers, but it&#8217;s not the case across the board,\u201d said Professor Hennessy, whose department is currently working on treatments for common and rarer forms of cancer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>\u201cPeople with cancer on cancer trials generally do better than those who are not\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s not just about planning new treatments for the future but improving outcomes today, he went on. Less money means fewer trials, which has the effect of blocking access to potentially life-saving treatments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf you&#8217;ve got a\nsmaller proportion of people on cancer trials, you&#8217;ve got fewer people with\naccess to brand-new, cutting-edge innovative treatments that have a good chance\nof improving the standard of care,\u201d said Prof Hennessy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere&#8217;s no question that people with cancer on cancer trials generally do better than those who are not, so the potential impact of this is that the outcomes of people with cancer in the country would suffer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Want to be part of a clinical trial? Just ask!<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Raising public\nawareness of the importance of clinical trials is a vital plank of the\norganisation\u2019s plan to overcome this issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Launched as part of 20 May\u2019s International Clinical Trials Day, the \u201cJust Ask Your Team\u201d campaign encouraged cancer patients to speak to their healthcare team about getting involved in research, for example. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cClinical trials are the only way that we improve cancer treatments, the only way that we can prove that new treatments are better than standard or older treatments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey&#8217;re the only way to get new treatments safely and robustly evaluated in people with cancer so we can improve how we treat different cancers,\u201d concluded Professor Hennessey. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are standing in the cusp of a new dawn of personalised treatments. This could revolutionise the way we treat cancer \u2013 but a lack of investment threatens to hold Ireland behind. Rapid advances in medical science mean we now understand more about cancer than ever. A new generation of personalised medicine stands at the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/oncology\/funding-cuts-threaten-cancer-treatment\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":2664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2856],"tags":[2859],"class_list":["post-2662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oncology","tag-innovation-in-oncology-2019"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2019\/05\/07211408\/GettyImages-485339255-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2019\/05\/07211408\/GettyImages-485339255-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Your Future Career","author_link":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/author\/harveyodonnell\/"},"vicky_index_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2662"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4107,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662\/revisions\/4107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}