Thousands of cancer patients are being denied treatment options because enrolment in clinical trials has plummeted during the pandemic, experts warn.
Figures released today by the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) show the number of people with cancer offered new drugs and therapies through trials fell by 60 per cent last year.
About 27,700 patients were recruited in 2020-21, down from an average of 67,000 over the previous three years.
Professor Nick James, of the ICR, said that the slowdown had denied patients access to potentially lifesaving medicines. “I fear that we are about to see a further drop in the number of cancer patients recruited on to clinical trials, as we head into a hugely challenging winter for the NHS,” he said.
Cancer trials are often funded by pharmaceutical companies, which support them by providing free drugs and additional research nurses.
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Even being in the control arm of a clinical trial — where a patient is given a placebo — can improve the quality of care they receive, James said. There tends to be more scrutiny, he explained. “Just by the simple running of the trial, people taking part in it can live longer,” he said.
He called for more investment by government and the NHS and for a reduction in red tape. If action is not taken Britain risks forfeiting its world-leading role in cancer medicine, he said.
Other experts said this week that more than ten million people in England will still be waiting for treatment on the eve of the next election, expected in 2024, despite the UK government’s £16 billion NHS rescue plan.
GPs have warned that cancer patients now face lengthy waits and those who can afford to go private are creating a two-tier health system.
The ICR also commissioned a YouGov survey of 500 people who had been treated for cancer, which was carried out in March 2020. It found that 95 per cent of respondents thought it was important that cancer patients were offered access to treatment in clinical trials. However, only 37 per cent had had a conversation about trials during their treatment, and only 11 per cent had participated in a trial.
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There was also a difference in ability to access trials in different parts of the country, with some in rural areas reporting travelling more than 100 miles for treatment on a clinical trial.
James said: “As it has struggled to cope with Covid-19, the underfunded and overstretched NHS has faced extremely difficult decisions on prioritisation of its resources. Understandably, the NHS has spent much of the last two years in crisis mode — putting all hands on deck to cope with the pandemic. But I am worried about the long-term implications of diverting NHS resources away from clinical trials for cancer.”
Professor Udai Banerji, of the Drug Development Unit at the ICR, said: “Cancer medicine has changed hugely over the last two decades, with patients increasingly treated with precision drugs targeted against particular genetic faults within tumours. It’s essential that our clinical trial systems keep pace with the science.
“We need streamlined and accelerated approval of promising drugs using novel trial designs. Clinical trials of drugs should be embedded into all aspects of cancer medicine . . . The pandemic has caused us to pause and identify areas we can do better. It’s time to make up for lost time.”
