Pandemic ‘Impacting’ Cancer Research Funding

The effects of the global pandemic can be felt across all areas of society and will be felt for years to come, with the implications of the crisis far-reaching and potentially catastrophic for many.

Where medical research is concerned, coronavirus is affecting funding, which means that future breakthroughs could be prevented for illnesses such as cancer.

Cancer Research UK, for example, has just revealed that it could potentially be forced to slash £150 million annually from its research funding.

The organisation funds approximately 50 per cent of all UK-based publicly funded cancer research, so a reduced income will prevent possible breakthroughs but also have a huge impact on scientists and the research infrastructure that has taken decades to build.

The charity has now called upon the government to work alongside them in order to help bridge this funding gap. It has been suggested that, collectively, medical research charities form an essential part of the solution after the pandemic to help the economy recover, while making sure that the country is still on track to become a global science superpower.

Cancer Research UK Michelle Mitchell said: “Without a way to bridge this funding gap, we will have to make radical decisions about cutting life-saving research, which will severely impact our vision of seeing three in four people survive their cancer within the next 20 years. Ultimately, it will be patients who will suffer the consequences, which is heartbreaking.”

At the start of June, the charity confirmed that all its Race for Life events for 2020 would be cancelled outright because of the pandemic, with Ms Mitchell saying at the time that Cancer Research UK is expecting to see a 20-25 per cent fall in fundraising income this financial year.

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