NIHR Royal Marsden CRF

The Royal Marsden (RM) has a long tradition of driving and delivering research to change cancer care. This includes research that translates scientific discoveries into new ways of detecting and treating cancer.

More RM patients have opportunities to join experimental cancer trials than at any other NHS Trust, especially those of medicines given to patients for the first time.

With The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), we have been directly involved in the licensing of one-out-of-four new cancer drugs since 2000. Some are developed in-house, while others are developed by the drug companies we work with. Specialist care is provided by our expert workforce, in world-class scientific and medical facilities.

Our work with companies and the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity (RMCC) enables us to invest in our people and facilities. For example, we leveraged £23.5million in research income from industry in 2019/20. We will continue to invest, increase capacity and deliver world-class cancer care. The new NIHR CRF funding will be used to support our West Wing Clinical Research Centre (WWCRC).

This dedicated space, designed to deliver complex cancer medicine trials, has specialist equipment and clinical experts in experimental cancer trials. WWCRC enables us to offer the most promising treatments to NHS patients. We will also build on the cancer imaging expertise we developed over previous NIHR CRF terms.

Advanced imaging technologies will enable patients to participate in the most complex cancer trials. Our CRF will continue to save lives and change lives by bringing cutting edge cancer medicine to NHS patients.

We will continue to promote our facilities and expertise within the medical and biotechnology sector, and provide expert advice on how to deliver cancer clinical trials. We will work to speed up the progress of promising drugs. To do this, we will track trial progress through our NIHR/CRUK Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre and onto WWCRC.

We will also work with industry to quicken trial set-up.

Our ability to deliver trials attracts funding from all over the world into the NHS, ensuring the UK continues to be a global player in cancer research. We will: Take steps to ensure that all cancer patients have equal opportunity to take part in research. Use our specialist expertise to deliver the most complex cancer trials.

Expand and share our expertise in complex trials across the Royal Marsden. Provide the best research experience for our patients. Increase capacity so that more patients can join trials. Speed the set-up of cancer trials involving multiple tumour types. Develop collaborations with healthcare companies to provide patients with access to the latest innovations.

This will change and save lives across the nation and beyond. Enhance our portfolio, delivering trials with cutting-edge technologies. Ensure data generated from WWCRC is fully utilised to support further scientific developments for patient benefit.