Thousands of brain cancer patients will be fast-tracked on to clinical trials under an NHS drive to end “decades of nihilism” and find a cure for the disease that killed Baroness Jowell.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has announced a £32 million boost for research into brain cancer, which kills more people aged under 40 than any other type of cancer.
Under the government’s national cancer plan being unveiled next week, a database will be used to match cancer patients with suitable clinical trials for promising new drugs.
Health officials said that this would speed up access to “breakthrough treatments previously out of reach”.
Brain tumours kill 5,500 people a year in Britain, but research has historically been underfunded compared with other types, and patients often struggle to access trials until it is…