Guernsey cancer patients will be able to participate in UK clinical research, without having to leave the island, in a new partnership between Guernsey, Southampton and Sussex.
Business Beats Cancer Guernsey, a fundraising sub-committee of Cancer Research UK’s Guernsey branch, has formed a new partnership with the Universities of Southampton and Sussex, named ‘Island and Institutes’.
The initiative allows blood cancer patients in the island to give permission for excess blood and tissue samples taken as part of ongoing treatment to be collected and transported to the UK for use in ongoing clinical trials.
“Business Beats Cancer has already raised more than £500,000 which has supported the Southampton Centre for Cancer Immunology and created a fund to allow Guernsey patients to travel to the UK to participate in clinical trials. Travelling during treatment is difficult and so this new initiative, which is still aligned to our focus on clinical research, transports samples from the patients, without them needing to travel,” said Neale Jehan (pictured), Chair of the Business Beats Cancer Fundraising Board.
The initiative extends initial work undertaken in Lymphoma by David Dutton from the University of Southampton, who is the visiting Lymphoma consultant. The initiative also involves agreements to undertake this work across Lymphoma, CLL and Myeloma, also working with Dr John Jones of the University of Sussex and allowing for some dedicated consultant research time to leverage the results.
“The relationship between Guernsey and Southampton is already very strong; the new ‘Island and Institutes’ partnership builds on this, providing opportunities for the people of Guernsey to be involved in exciting clinical and scientific research,” said Mr Dutton who is also University of Southampton Honorary clinical senior lecturer.
Results, which will be bespoke to the island, will be shared with the relevant local oncology team as part of larger research initiatives, which may lead to more targeted treatments being available in the island in an effort to turn Guernsey from a care provider to a research participant.
“We are a busy cancer unit providing on-island treatments to a broad range of patients with malignancies ranging from solid tumours such as lung and breast cancer to many blood cancers including lymphomas and leukaemias. We have been very fortunate in having access to cutting edge technologies, targeting cancers more precisely and improving outcomes,’ said Peter Gomes, Lead Medical Oncologist at Bulstrode Oncology Unit.
“On-island treatments now include chemotherapy, targeted drugs, immunotherapy and antibody-drug combinations targeting highly specific cancer cell targets. These exciting developments can only come through dedicated research carried out by centres of excellence such as Southampton and Brighton hospitals.
“It will be a very positive move forward to see Guernsey patients able to directly contribute to active cutting-edge research that will further improve cancer treatments for all, including local patients.”
