A prominent cancer charity has cautioned that the progress of developing potential brain cancer treatments is impeded by pharmaceutical companies not supplying necessary drugs for research and by delays in regulatory processes.

In the UK, brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer-related deaths for individuals under 40, including both children and adults. Despite this, research funding for brain tumors has been insufficient for a significant period of time. Approximately 12,000 people in the UK receive a diagnosis of a primary brain tumor annually.

Brain Tumour Research is troubled by reports from experienced medical professionals of hesitancy in supplying the expensive medications necessary for research due to brain cancer being a rare illness.

Hugh Adams, the representative of the charity, stated that the progress of introducing new medications has been hindered due to insufficient research resources and difficulties in acquiring drugs for testing. He emphasized the need for a different approach that recognizes this illness as a top priority in clinical settings.

Siobhain McDonagh, a member of the Labour Party in the UK, is advocating for legislation to fund research on brain tumors. This issue hits close to home for McDonagh, as her sister Baroness McDonagh, a former general secretary for the Labour Party, passed away from a glioblastoma brain tumor in June of last year. McDonagh plans to present a bill to parliament in the coming month, urging fellow MPs to support efforts to expand the number of clinical trials for this condition.

She is urging the MHRA and NICE to speed up the process of approving treatments for less common types of cancer. Additionally, she is calling for new rules that would require pharmaceutical companies to have a stock of drugs available for treating brain tumors. “We need to push drug companies to supply the necessary medications for clinical trials,” she stated. The reason for their hesitation, she explained, is either financial viability or fear of unfavorable outcomes.

Paul Mulholland, a medical oncology consultant, provided evidence to the parliamentary health and social care committee regarding difficulties in accessing drugs for glioblastoma tumor trials. Some of these drugs could potentially be repurposed for brain cancer treatment and have previously been used for other types of cancer.

He stated that there has been no progress in treatment for three decades. The main issue is the lack of clinical trials being conducted. The pharmaceutical industry has not supplied the necessary medications for these trials and has shown little interest in the patient population. Therefore, regulatory changes are needed to motivate the pharmaceutical industry to invest in discovering a cure.

Last year in February, an all-party parliamentary group on brain tumours published a report stating that only £15m out of the £40m allocated by the government in May 2018 for brain tumour research had been actually awarded. Additionally, the report mentioned that £6m of this amount could not be easily identified as being specifically designated for brain tumours.

A representative from the Department of Health and Social Care stated that brain cancer is a destructive condition. They also mentioned that £40 million has been allocated for research initiatives focused on finding innovative treatments and therapies for this disease.

Amit Aggarwal, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry’s executive director of medical affairs, stated that the primary purpose of pharmaceutical companies is to discover, develop, and provide successful treatments for patients. He also mentioned that these companies willingly offer medications for external clinical trials, including those for brain cancers.

Requiring companies to make their products available upon request may damage the public’s confidence in medicines. This could occur if, for instance, a medicine does not prove effective for a new purpose, or if there is a negative outcome in a clinical trial that the original company was not involved in.

Source: theguardian.com