The future of cancer treatment set to be transformed through the opening of new Cancer Institute

NHS patients will soon benefit from the opening of a new cancer centre specialising in the use of diagnostics for targeted cancer medicines used to treat some of the UK’s most common cancers.

Standard cancer therapies, involving the use of non-specific and extremely toxic chemicals, are being replaced by a new generation of innovative and highly- targeted therapies. Based on the tumour’s genetic profile, these treatments interact with specific targets on cancer cells, reducing undesired side effects and increasing treatment effectiveness.

Certain targeted treatments have been available on the NHS for a number of years. However, concerns regarding the sensitivity of the diagnostics used to select patients for a particular treatment, have limited their uptake. In addition, clinicians were often unsure if patients were receiving the optimal treatment for their tumour type.    

The Poundbury Cancer Institute hopes to accelerate the uptake of personalised medicines in the treatment of cancer. This will be achieved by acting as a test bed for new diagnostic tests developed in partnership with the diagnostic and pharmaceutical industry. The Institute then plans to improve cancer outcomes by widening patient access to a large array of high quality cancer tests through links with key NHS cancer centres.

Dr Corrado D’Arrigo, Consultant Histopathologist, Dorset County Hospital said:

The her-2 test in breast cancer was one of the first companion diagnostics introduced in the late 90's, yet it took us over 10 years to improve the quality of her-2 testing across the UK laboratories to the point that clinicians could be sure they were giving patients the most effective treatment. We are facing an avalanche of new companion diagnostics and we cannot afford similar delays. We need to create a network of centres like Poundbury Cancer Institute to help the NHS deliver all these new tests

Not only will the new centre be at the forefront of developing novel diagnostic technologies, such as new biomarker tests in common cancers like bowel and lung cancer, it will also help develop robust systems via the UK National External Quality Assessment Service, to ensure that the diagnostic tests used in the NHS are performed to a high quality. The institute will offer training to other NHS laboratories and pathology services to ensure a spread of best practice across the UK.  

Dr Sarah Wedden, Senior Research Scientist at Dorset County Hospital said:

There has been a radical transformation in the availability of new targeted cancer therapies in the last 10 years, however the NHS has not always been effective at adopting these new technologies. We hope to change this through Poundbury Cancer Institute which will act as a test bed for the introduction of new diagnostics

Mr Keith Miller, Director of CADQAS CIC said:

This unique combination of activities taking place at Poundbury Cancer Institute will assist with the design and delivery of personalised medicine across the UK

Mr Christopher Parker, Managing Director of Roche Diagnostics UK & Ireland said:

The diagnostic tools developed at Poundbury will enable scientists to take their research from bench to bedside in a more personalised way than has previously been possible,  thus increasing the benefit for patients

Source: Roche Group