How clinical trials are funded in the UK

The costs of running a trial

Trials are expensive to run because they need funding for:

• treatments, procedures and tests

• research staff to run the trial and collect the data

• staff and computer technology to analyse the results

• administrative costs – paperwork, overseeing the protocol, data collection and producing results

• the cost of extra tests or hospital stays for patients taking part

Charities

Many charities in the UK fund cancer research. Cancer Research UK is the single largest funder of cancer research in the UK. Some charities fund UK research into treatment for specific cancers. For example:

• Blood Cancer UK

• Breast Cancer Now

• The Brain Tumour Charity

• Myeloma UK

• Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation

Read more about clinical trial organisations.

Government

The Government currently funds health research through organisations such as the:

• Medical Research Council (MRC)

• National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) (funded by the Department of Health)

They also help to coordinate cancer research nationally through the UK Collaborative Clinical Research (UKCCCR). The money for tests and costs of hospital stays often comes from the government. The NHS covers the costs of trials that are part of the NIHR Research Delivery Network (RDN) in England.

Drug companies

Drug (pharmaceutical) companies fund a large amount of cancer research in the UK. Companies run their own trials looking at drugs they have developed. They also sometimes give a grant or supply the drug free of charge for trials run by academic organisations. If a drug company is running the trial, they have to pay the hospital for the costs of tests and patient stays.

Drug companies play an important part working with other organisations to develop new treatments.

International organisations

Some trials that run in the UK are funded by organisations from other countries including:

• The European Organisation for Research and Treatment for Cancer (EORTC)

• Breast International Group (BIG)