The growing numbers of people expected to be diagnosed with cancer in the UK in the years ahead presents a pressing challenge. The NHS Cancer Plan 2000 set targets for wait times, and while the COVID-19 pandemic created setbacks, NHS trusts across England have been working diligently to tackle waiting lists and improve patient care. Innovative partnerships between NHS trusts, academia and industry have emerged as a powerful tool to support these efforts. The Royal Marsden, the first hospital in the world dedicated to the study and treatment of cancer – and a world-class innovation centre – has a long history of working collaboratively with industry and academia to pioneer new treatments for cancer.
The complexity of cancer
Cancer is not a single disease, but a group of diseases characterised by the uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells. Each type of cancer is unique in its biology and behaviour, making it a highly complex area of study. This complexity makes collaboration a crucial part of cancer research. Partnerships allows researchers from various disciplines to pool their expertise and resources. This helps to accelerate the transition of lab-based discovery science to the clinic, driving forward the best possible results for those affected by cancer. Collaborations between hospitals and industry also play a vital part in giving patients access to the latest cutting-edge technology.
Advancing cancer research involves conducting clinical trials to test new therapies and interventions. It also requires a wide range of skills and expertise: no single individual or research team can possess all these skills, so collaboration enables scientists with different backgrounds to work together share knowledge and expertise on how to address the multifaceted nature of cancer. The ultimate goal of cancer research is to allow researchers to better understand, prevent, diagnose, and treat cancer.
Collaborative efforts enable researchers to work more efficiently, share findings rapidly, and collectively push the boundaries of knowledge and treatment options. This is particularly important when it comes to cancer, which is a disease that can be deadly if it’s not treated early and effectively.
Our experience from COVID-19 has clearly shown that collaborative working can drive forward lifesaving research. By pooling collective expertise, with like-minded organisations from around the world, we can accelerate lifesaving innovations for cancer patients, much faster.
Advancing cancer research
The Royal Marsden is a world-renowned cancer centre based in London and is actively involved in cancer research. In fact, it was the first hospital in the world dedicated to the study and treatment of cancer. But contrary to popular belief, the Royal Marsden is not just a cancer hospital. It’s a world-leading innovation centre – specialising in cancer care – the largest in the whole of Europe. It brings together a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, nurses, physicists, computing physicists, and molecular pathologists, who work together to transform the way we understand and treat cancers. From clinical trials that assess the safety and effectiveness of novel treatments, to collaborating with other research institutions, both within the UK and internationally, the hospital’s commitment to research and collaboration contributes significantly to advancements in cancer diagnosis and treatment.
The field of cancer research is fast evolving, and today immunotherapies, for instance, are emerging as a promising new approach to tackling cancer. And the Royal Marsden has been at the forefront of advancing research in this field. In 1991 the hospital became the first NHS hospital to be awarded the Queen’s Award for Technology for their work on drug development. Together with its principal academic partner, the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), the hospital has led trials in the UK for the ground-breaking immunotherapy drugs Vemurafenib and Ipilimumab – the biggest breakthrough in the treatment of metastatic melanoma for more than 30 years.
Fast forward to today, cellular therapies are emerging as promising forms of immunotherapy. These innovative approaches bolster the immune system’s capacity to target both blood cancers and solid tumours, with CAR T-cell therapy presenting a very complex and specialist modality. Cellular therapies are showing great promise – and The Royal Marsden is at the forefront of pioneering research in this complex and exciting field. The hospital is also engaged in exploring additional approaches against solid cancers, including therapies such as TIL (Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte) and TCR (T-Cell Receptor) therapy. There have already been promising results with these innovative treatments in clinical trials for patients with advanced melanoma for whom standard immunotherapy has been unsuccessful. Importantly, this research involves collaboration among various stakeholders.
Dr Andrew Furness, a Consultant Medical Oncologist who is leading on cellular therapies in solid tumours for the Royal Marsden Hospital, says: “The great thing here is that there are lots of support for innovation. One of the areas that I lead in is cellular therapy, which is using immune cells to tackle cancer. It’s complex research – it’s a living product, it’s not a drug like chemotherapy, it’s an actual living cell or cells that get to work. There are multiple stakeholders involved in the process, from scientists, surgeons, people who work in theatres, laboratories, all the way through to critical care. We all really believe in team science, working together collaboratively to get the best results.”
Partnership drives progress
As a centre of excellence, partnerships with industry and academia form an essential part of The Royal Marsden’s strategy for cancer research and treatment advancement. These collaborations foster innovation, provide access to resources and expertise, facilitate clinical trials, and accelerate the translation of research findings into new and improved cancer treatments for patients.
Today it operates as a specialist cancer hospital and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre for Cancer, working closely with the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR). Together, The Royal Marsden and the ICR are ranked in the top five cancer centres in the world for the impact of their research, treating over 59,000 NHS and private patients every year.
The hospital also collaborates with pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology firms, medical device manufacturers, and other industry partners to bring novel solutions to patients that improve our ability to detect, diagnose and treat cancer. The hospital recently partnered with Automata, a leading automation company, to increase cancer genomic testing capacity through robotic automation. Together, The Royal Marsden and Automata will establish the UK’s first fully automated system for clinical cancer genomic testing, increasing the hospital’s next-generation sequencing (NGS) capacity and expanding the range of tests the specialist cancer centre can perform.
Dr Furness adds: “That’s the benefit of having a public healthcare system, that we’re all linked up. If you’re a patient, it’s nice to know that we do all work together. So, if there’s a complex case, particular in cancer care, if there’s something really challenging, we are all linked up together and can ask questions to make sure we’re trying to do the right things for patients everywhere.”
In this short video, Dr Furness shares his first-hand experiences and insights into the Hospital’s approach to collaborating and the incredible role it has in pioneering new cancer treatments that benefit patients everywhere.