Improving access to clinical trials
Clinical trials are the single best way to turn advances in science into patient benefits. The ICR has a vision that a suitable trial should be made available for every person with cancer who wants to be part of one.
Expanding trial access – ICR report
Our 2021 report, Clinical trials in cancer, reveals the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on cancer trials and highlights longstanding barriers to expanding clinical trial access to more people with cancer. But Covid-19 also offers clues to a recovery that can get new treatments to cancer patients more quickly.
News: Cancer trial recruitment drops by 60 per cent during pandemic
The number of cancer patients entering clinical trials has plummeted during the pandemic – denying many thousands the latest treatment options and delaying drug development. Here, cancer experts set out their findings about the barriers to carrying out clinical trials in the UK and proposals for boosting participation.Latest ICR News
Drug discoverer Paul Workman awarded OBE in New Year’s Honours list
Professor Paul Workman, drug discovery scientist and former Chief Executive of the ICR, has been awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours list 2026 for services to cancer research.
Blood test could spare men with advanced prostate cancer from futile chemotherapy
New research has identified a way to predict resistance to a cancer drug commonly used to treat advanced prostate cancer.
ICR researchers to contribute to £13.7m brain tumour research consortium
The NIHR has announced a £13.7 million investment into research to develop new brain tumour treatments in the UK. The funding will establish the NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium – a national partnership uniting hospitals, universities, cancer centres and charities, along with patients. This is a coordinated UK-wide effort, which will involve the ICR's scientists, aims to transform brain cancer treatment.
New structural insights reveal molecular details of a key step in cell cycle control
In a major advance for molecular biology and cancer research, scientists have uncovered the molecular mechanisms that control a key step during the activation of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) – the master regulators of cell division.