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The National Brain Appeal has had a significant impact on brain cancer care over the last ten years and more. The charity provided the critical £1million initial funding to establish the specialist brain cancer team, the Brain Tumour Unit. This funded doctors, nurses and research roles to enhance the patient experience and develop research. We also provided:
*£295,000 towards an immunotherapy trial led by Dr Paul Mulholland. Patients with glioblastoma were given the immunotherapy drug ipilimumab, which has previously improved survival rates in people with melanoma skin cancer. The phase II trial was sponsored and run by the University of Oxford and part funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb with support from the National Institute for Health Research University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre.
This has been the most significant brain cancer clinical trial in decades with 119 patients recruited across seven sites. Patients will be followed up over the next 18 months and findings presented to the American Society of Clinical Oncology in May 2023.
If sufficient funds can be raised, Dr Mulholland hopes to start follow-up brain cancer clinical trials later this year. He said: We are bringing together the newest drugs from the pharmaceutical industry together with the latest developments in scientific research to try to find a cure for this devastating disease.
The singer, Tom Parker, did so much to raise awareness for glioblastoma - highlighting the need for funding for new treatments and research for this devastating disease. As part of this, he organised the Inside My Head concert at the Royal Albert Hall in September 2021. 50% of funds raised from this will go to our brain cancer research appeal.
* £1.5m for a dedicated ward for brain tumour patients called The Molly Lane Fox Unit. We also funded the UKs first interventional MRI scanner (to advance brain cancer surgery).
*£185,000 towards three research projects to develop new surgical instruments and technique; to determine brain tumour boundaries; and, to develop biological image-guided adaptive radiotherapy all with the goal of reducing the size of tumour remaining after treatment without inflicting other damage .
Together, these developments have helped establish The National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery as a world leading centre for brain cancer .
The Brain Tumour Unit simply would not exist as it does today without The National Brain Appeal. They have given us so much support over the years to help us function at such a high level and provide the very best care for our patients. It is so important to have the right environment and support for patients who have been diagnosed with a brain tumour. The Molly Lane Fox Unit provides that not only in a physical sense as a ward but it also provides a focus for clinical staff, a concentration of expertise among the professional groups. It is much more than just where we treat our patients.
Dr Naomi Fersht, Consultant Clinical Oncologist, The National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery
Any donations made to this page will be used to fund new treatments for and research into brain cancers. If you would like to support this work, please make a donation today.
Thank you.