Tessa Jowell BRAIN-MATRIX
Programme Lead: Professor Colin Watts
Purpose: Establish a unique and internationally leading clinical trial and translational research ecosystem for brain cancer patients
One of the key initial objectives is to support and further enhance the Tessa Jowell BRAIN-MATRIX: a ground-breaking UK-wide trial aimed at radically increasing opportunities for brain tumour patients to try non-standard treatments. The BRAIN-MATRIX is being funded with a £2.8m investment from The Brain Tumour Charity
Strategic Objectives: The programme has a set of other agreed aims:
- Develop a trial accelerator programme that ensures every brain cancer patient has the opportunity to be part of a clinical trial, personalised by individual tumour biomarkers, and optimised for their disease and personalised risk.
- Establish a network of NHS centres that efficiently collect data at scale across digital, biological and clinical streams throughout the patient care pathway.
- Advance the curation, analysis and sharing of data to support and inform clinical decision making and enable precision medicine in the NHS.
- Attract international biopharma and diagnostic investment into leading edge treatment of UK cancer patients.
- Support innovation in clinical trial design and methodology to maximise recruitment and enable parallel testing of multiple novel therapies.
Update on Progress: The setting up of the Tessa Jowell BRAIN-MATRIX is progressing well; it has received Research Ethics Committee approval, finalised the study protocol and is in the process of setting up the relevant oversight and advisory groups. The team is preparing to set up a large network of clinical hubs in Birmingham, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham and Oxford.
Within the programme, Prof Anthony Chalmers is leading a small task force on clinical trial red tape. The team has authored a paper outlining several solutions to prevent delays in opening new clinical studies for brain tumour patients. This is highly relevant for the BRAIN MATRIX. The solutions are currently being discussed with relevant governing bodies.
For more information on the BRAIN-MATRIX , please click here.
