Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres Network

The Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) network, is a network of 17 adult and 12 paediatric 'virtual' centres across the UK designed to bring new treatments to cancer patients as quickly as possible.

The network is a partnership between local NHS Trusts and universities, enabling world class health researchers and clinicians to work together to generate new approaches for beating cancer.

The ECMCs are jointly supported by Cancer Research UK, The Little Princess Trust and the Departments of Health for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, providing a total of £47.5 million over five years. Launched in 2007, the initiative is now in its fourth term of funding from 2023 to 2028.

The aims of this partnership

The ECMCs bring together lab-based scientists and clinical researchers, enabling them to share ideas and resources to drive the discovery, development and testing of new anti-cancer treatments and tests to benefit patients.

As well as helping to push forward clinical trials of exciting new cancer treatments, researchers at the ECMCs are also developing biological tests (biomarkers) that can tell whether a treatment is working, and identify which drugs might be most suitable for an individual patient.

More research infrastructure

We fund a network of state-of-the-art facilities at more than 80 institutions across the UK. From basic science and drug discovery to experimental medicine and clinical trials, our infrastructure enables research throughout the pipeline.