Science Talk

When Alfred Samuels was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in 2012, it felt as if his world had fallen apart overnight. Doctors said surgery wasn’t an option for him because the cancer had spread beyond his prostate, and he started to lose hope. But then he joined a clinical trial and began treatment with abiraterone, a drug discovered and developed by our scientists, which is now extending the lives of thousands of men worldwide. Eleven years later, Alfred explains how he wouldn’t be here today without our research.

Breast cancer clinical trials have evolved over the years, and with new ideas came new challenges in reporting their results. Molly Andrews explores the ICR’s role in setting out new guidance for recording results from breast cancer clinical trials.

The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated many changes in cancer research, and shown we can do things in radically different ways – as we heard at a series of ‘Year 2035’ talks at this year’s National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Festival. Here we take a look at three key themes emerging from these talks: the challenges of adapting cancer treatment for an ageing population, the importance of equality and diversity, and clinical trials in a post-Covid world.