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Position statements

The Institute of Cancer Research has outlined its position on a number of policy issues in scientific and medical research. Our statements can be read and downloaded below.

You may also be interested in reading our factsheets, which give up-to-date and easy-to-access facts and figures on the ICR.

Creating new biomarker tests to guide cancer treatment

The ICR believes that testing for biomarkers that tell us important information about cancers is essential to advance precision medicine for cancer.

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Accessing biomarker tests on the NHS

The ICR believes that expanding access to biomarker testing is crucial to enabling cancer patients to benefit from precision medicine.

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Radiotherapy

The ICR believes barriers to radiotherapy research and availability of the latest radiotherapy technologies on the NHS could cause patients to miss out on these potentially life-saving treatments.

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Immunotherapy

Several immunotherapies have shown spectacular responses, but more work needs to be done to develop an understanding of their underlying biology to ensure these treatments can reach the patients that need them most.

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Early access to medicines

It is critical that patients with cancer have access to innovative drugs and treatments as early as possible. The ICR believes that a pragmatic and flexible regulatory system is needed in the UK and Europe that reflects the changing scientific realities of cancer and its treatment.

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Drug pricing

The ICR believes there are fundamental problems with the way that cancer drugs are priced, and that as a consequence many innovative new medicines end up being unaffordable for healthcare systems.

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Drug evaluation

The ICR strongly believes that drug evaluation systems should be designed to provide cancer patients with access to innovative and effective treatments as quickly as possible.

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Innovation in cancer drug discovery and development

The ICR believes that innovation needs to be embedded in every stage of a drug’s path to market, including in assessing whether drugs should be made available for healthcare systems.

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Collaboration with industry

The ICR is a strong believer in the importance of collaboration between academia and industry in taking forward the results of research to benefit society.

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Impact of the vote to leave the EU

The ICR believe it is essential for UK science that we can continue to welcome researchers from across the UK and worldwide to work in this country.

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Big Data

The ICR believe Big Data has the potential to transform the cancer research landscape. To properly seize the opportunities offered, we need new approaches to data collection, curation and analysis, and support for infrastructure, education and training.

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Childhood cancer trials

The ICR believe the EU’s system of paediatric investigational plans (PIPs) needs to be revised to ensure cancer drugs developed for adults are also tested in children whenever their mechanism of action suggests they could be effective.

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Clinical trial regulation

A statement on the regulation and transparency of clinical trials from The Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.

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Using patient data in research

Patient data must be stored safely to ensure patient confidentiality, but such safeguards must not hamper access to patient data for research use.

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Patenting genetic information

Genetic information should be routinely used to inform people with cancer about their risk and help to guide decisions over personalised cancer treatment.

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Progress towards cancer cures

The ICR believes that life-extending therapies are an important step towards our ultimate aim – which is not only to control cancers, but to cure them.

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Research using animals

The ICR believes that animal research is essential to understand how cancer develops and behaves within a whole organism and how to treat it effectively.

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