Pandemic causes Cancer Research UK to cut funding

Cancer Research UK is having to cut its research budget by £45 million due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the charity has announced.

The charity has cut around half of what it usually spends at this time of the year, meaning that a number of projects and hundreds of scientists have been left unfunded. This follows the £44 million cut made to current grants at the start of the pandemic, with Cancer Research UK not being able to fund any new clinical trials this year.

The reduction in spending has now led to 24 fewer research programmes, 68 fewer projects and 12 fewer fellowships. Based on the average number of staff employed on each grant, Cancer Research UK estimates that there will be around 328 fewer scientists working on their research because of the cuts.

The charity says that a shrinking research portfolio will not only slow down future breakthroughs for people with cancer but could seriously reduce the chances of reaching the charity’s goal of three in four surviving their cancer by 2034.

Cancer Research UK has also had to reduce the amount it is spending on competitive grants and fellowships due to the pandemic, which makes up around one third of its research. The reduced income due to the pandemic means that around 100 fewer grants will be funded.

This response mode funding has led to a number of projects that have helped improve cancer treatments. Cancer Research UK scientists have helped to boost breast cancer survival over the past 40 years through the discovery of the BRCA genes and has helped to develop promising breast cancer drugs like Herceptin.

More so, Cancer Research UK scientists have also pioneered the development of a class of drugs known as PARP inhibitors that are rapidly transforming the treatment of not just BRCA-related breast cancer, but ovarian, prostate and other types of cancer as well.

The charity previously warned that it could be forced to cut £150 million per year from its research funding due to Covid-19. Cancer Research UK says that similar reduction will be made at the next funding round in the spring, unless the government or other charitable efforts can help fill its income gaps.

Cancer Research UK has warned that it could be spending £150 million less per year by 2024 due to a potential £300 million decline in fundraising income over the next three years.

Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: “Covid-19 has slowed down our efforts to beat cancer. The closures of our charity shops and the cancellation of our fundraising events across the country means we have less money available for life-saving research, but we will never stop.

“We still have great ambition, are still the largest charitable funder of cancer research in the world, and will continue to fund the very best scientists in the UK and across the globe. We have always relied on the generous donations of all our supporters, but we need them now more than ever so we can continue to achieve these ambitions and so that together, we can still beat cancer.”

Dr Iain Foulkes, executive director of research and innovation at Cancer Research UK, said: “As a charity, we fund around half of the UK’s publicly funded cancer research. Medical research charities like Cancer Research UK are the life blood of research and development in the UK, and we have all felt the devastating blow of the pandemic on our income.

“The recent Government spending review was a step in the right direction for cancer services in the UK, but we need urgent clarification to what measures are being put in place to support medical research charities through the Life Sciences Charity Partnership Fund. As a country that relies so heavily on charity-funded research, the UK risks weakening its reputation as a world-leader in science if charities don’t receive the right support.”