Finding new brain cancer treatments
Around 30 people every day in the UK will hear that they have brain cancer. Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer (Brain Tumour Research).We know what we need to do to fight brain cancer; bring patients and research together to develop new treatments that can get through to the brain and target the multiple challenges of brain tumours.
Professor Colin Watts talks about brain cancer treatment in Birmingham
Brain cancers are hidden behind a protective barrier that sits around the brain, so they are particularly hard to diagnose and treat. Current cancer drugs are designed not to penetrate this barrier, which for most cancers protects patients from the worst side effects, but for brain cancer means drugs can't get to where they are needed. No new treatments for brain cancer have been found in more than 15 years.
You could help create new treatments to target brain tumours
The most accurate way to study any disease is in the patient themselves. Yet less than 5% of patients with brain cancers get into a clinical trial. The Birmingham Brain Cancer Programme aims to get more patients into trials, and grow models of their disease from their own tumours to test new drugs and treatments on. Using real tumours will help identify how the cancer evolves over time and what effect current therapies (radiation and drugs) have on that process, leading to better outcomes for patients.
Families like Robert's need your support
'I want to be part of finding better treatments for the type of cancer which my wife Jean died of in 2017. I'm supporting brain cancer research at the University of Birmingham because I want my donation to go directly to specific frontline research.'
Researcher Colin Watts needs your support
'Our goal is to make the operating theatre an extension of the lab, bringing the lab to the patient. We want to create the largest trial in brain cancer on the planet, to develop better drugs and get results back to patients within 28 days to significantly improve their outcomes and their quality of life.' Read more from Colin in Old Joe magazine.
Make a donation
You could help find better treatments for brain cancer, that get to where they are needed, through a gift starting at £5 a month.