Research funding will double to £40m and all NHS hospitals will perform gold standard tumour diagnosis tests

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Brain cancer research will have its government funding doubled to £40m and gold standard tumour diagnosis tests will be rolled out to all NHS hospitals, in tribute to Dame Tessa Jowell, Downing Street announced on Sunday.

No 10 announced it would fulfil two key campaign aims of the late former Labour cabinet minister, including a national rollout of a brain cancer diagnosis test, gold standard dye, used to identify tumours.

The method is only used in half of brain cancer centres in England. “It must be extended to all of them,” Jowell said in her final speech in the House of Lords.

Play Video 4:30 Tessa Jowell: former Labour MP delivers moving speech on brain cancer diagnosis – video

Theresa May and the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, also announced an annual Tessa Jowell global symposium, which will host the best clinical, scientific and academic minds on brain cancer to to identify gaps, best practice and research priorities.

Downing Street said it hoped the first symposium would take place by the end of the year. The work to fulfil the commitments will be led by health minister Lord O’Shaughnessy.

“My aim is to boost research into treatments – even cures – for brain cancer and transform care for patients in the way that Tessa called for,” he said.

Jowell met May and Hunt in Downing Street in February where they unveiled a new £45m brain cancer research fund, with new government funding of £20m over five years.

That has now been doubled with more new money to £40m, which will bring the total research fund to £65m, including £25m from Cancer Research UK and £13m of regular funding.

The government also said it would commit to accelerate the use of adaptive trials – another key ask by Jowell during her House of Lords speech. “New adaptive trials can test many treatments at the same time,” she said. “They speed up the process and save a lot of money.”

Politicians pay tribute to Tessa Jowell after death from cancer Read more

Traditional clinical trials test only one drug or treatment at a time and can take several years to produce results, whereas adaptive trials allow researchers to test new drugs or combinations of therapies in response to a patient’s condition.

May said she had been privileged to host Jowell at Downing Street to speak about her illness. “I hope that the actions we are taking now and in the future to improve care and research for those confronting a terrible disease will form part of the lasting legacy of an inspirational woman,” she said.

Hunt said he had been “moved by her bravery and selfless campaigning in her final months, and determined to honour her life and memory with the action on brain cancer that she fought so hard for”.

About 11,400 people are diagnosed with a brain tumour every year in the UK, with survival rates of just 14% for 10 years or more.