Welcome

from our Chief Executive

As ever, it was a privilege to lead The Institute of Cancer Research, London, in 2025 – a fantastic year for scientific breakthroughs, organisational developments and fundraising achievements.

We would not be able to carry out our important work at the same capacity without your ongoing support. I know I speak on behalf of us all when I say we continue to be grateful to all of you – our donors, supporters and partners – for helping to keep progressing our research.

With your backing, we have made many scientific advances in the past year, including discovering how a common genetic mutation drives disease; how cancer cells adapt to harmful genetic changes, revealing new opportunities for targeted treatment; and identifying a potential new drug to target unique childhood brain tumours – to name just a few.

Our ongoing work has led to a number of other significant accomplishments this year. A new combination of targeted drugs, co-developed by the ICR, The Royal Marsden and industry partners, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States for treating a rare form of ovarian cancer. The targeted breast cancer drug, capivasertib – which our research laid the foundations for –has now also been recommended by NICE for use on the NHS, in combination with fulvestrant, to treat certain types of advanced or metastatic breast cancer.

The generosity of our fundraisers continues to be the backbone of our work. Across the year, we had 1,065 people raise funds for us across road races, sports challenges and DIY fundraising activities, and our 2024 Christmas appeal raised £137,000 for our life-changing research to help more women survive ovarian and breast cancer.

These activities, to name a few, meant we saw an increase of £2m in donations from the previous year, bringing our total to £15.9m.

The enthusiasm I see every day from our scientists, staff and supporters working tirelessly towards our mission is incredibly inspiring.

On behalf of all staff and students across the ICR, thank you for your generosity and ongoing support to help us make the discoveries that defeat cancer.

Professor Kristian Helin

Chief Executive Officer

Financial highlights

in 2025

We are truly committed to our mission of defeating cancer, which means we – with your incredible support – need to raise as much money as possible to advance our research. Scientific progression will always be our priority, and this is reflected in our income and expenditure. 

We celebrated an excellent year for fundraising, thanks to the generosity of our fundraisers, supporters and partners. Through donations, legacies and philanthropic giving from individuals, trusts and foundations, we raised £2m more than in the previous year. 

A total of 95 per cent of our expenditure went towards research and research support costs – 95p of every pound donated. When you support us, you can be rest assured that your contributions will make a difference to people living with cancer. 

Over the last year, our Christmas, spring and summer appeals raised £260,000. The appeals focused on ovarian and breast cancer, blood cancers and melanoma respectively. 

More than 1,605 supporters willingly pushed themselves out of their comfort zone in various ways. From running marathons to cycling between cities to climbing up mountains, they all found a way to help us raise a substantial £398,396 for our research. 

We received more than £6m from gifts left to us in Wills. This remains an integral part of our overall fundraising income, and we are immensely grateful to those who have chosen to make their legacy life changing. 

Regular gifts helped our researchers undertake new hypotheses with confidence, safe in the knowledge of sustained funding. The commitment of £210,000 from 1,389 regular donors in the past year is helping to propel our research into the future. 

Our discoveries

2025

With your ongoing support, we have been able to make considerable strides towards our goal of defeating cancer.

Your donations and efforts have helped us advance many exciting research projects, some of which we have spotlighted below.

 

Potential new drug to target a unique childhood brain tumour

Our researchers found that the breast cancer drug ribociclib might help treat an aggressive childhood brain tumour called diffuse hemispheric glioma. The drug slowed tumour growth in a child for 17 months after other treatments failed. This discovery offers hope that similar drugs could improve future treatment options for this disease.

A simple spit test could revolutionise prostate cancer screening

A new saliva-based genetic test developed in the BARCODE 1 study, could identify men at highest genetic risk more accurately than current PSA or MRI tests. An improved version is now being trialled that could offer a simple, cost-effective way to detect aggressive prostate cancer earlier.

Scientists develop new tool to beat cancer’s survival tactics

An international study involving our researchers identified more than 250 genes linked to bowel cancer, many newly discovered. By analysing whole-genome data, scientists defined genetic sub-groups that behave and respond differently to treatment. These insights could enable personalised therapies using existing drugs and shed light on how lifestyle and the gut microbiome influence cancer.