Edinburgh MP Scott Arthur's cancer research Bill passes crucial stage in House of Lords
Edinburgh MP Scott Arthur's Bill to help improve outcomes for people with so-called rare cancers has passed its crucial Second Reading stage in the House of Lords.
The Bill, which has already won unanimous backing in the Commons and is supported by the Government, aims to tackle long-standing gaps in research, treatment development and access to clinical trials for people affected by rare cancers, including brain tumours.
During a two-hour debate, Labour peer Baroness Elliott of Whitburn Bay, who is guiding the Bill through the Lords, said the Bill was urgently needed.
She told peers: "It is a very short Bill, but it will make a significant difference to what we have now and be a first step in starting to tackle the issues for people facing a diagnosis of one of these rare cancers. Its aim is to improve survival rates and outcomes."
Tory former Deputy Prime Minister Baroness Coffey told the Second Chamber: "Rare cancers may be individually uncommon, but collectively they are anything but rare, and around one in four diagnoses is for a rare or less common cancer.
"The consequence for tens of thousands of adults and children each year is that their experience of cancer is then markedly worse than that of patients with more common forms.
"The outcomes of patients with rare cancer are consistently poorer. Diagnosis, if it can be done at all, takes longer; specialist expertise is harder to access; clinical trials are more difficult to find; and treatment options are limited.
"This is not because the science is beyond us—I hope—but because our system has not been designed with rare cancers in mind. The Bill seeks to address that gap."
And Labour former Home Secretary Lord Blunkett said: "The more we can do to examine those so-called rare cancers, the more likely we are to be able to intervene early and prevent developments which would otherwise lead to death.
“If we can do that, early understanding of their development and the ability to save people in the future will be much more likely."
The Bill would initiate a review of “orphan drug” regulations which could incentivise companies to trial existing cancer drugs for treating rare cancers, encouraging life-saving treatments to be trialled in the UK.
It would also promote clinical trials by requiring the Government to appoint a named person to provide leadership on the delivery of rare cancer research.
And it would create a single UK database for clinical trials and patient data on an opt-out basis, giving patients increased access to trials and giving researchers easier access to relevant patients.
Dr Arthur said he was delighted the Bill had passed its latest stage in the Lords. He said: "This is an important milestone for patients and families who have waited far too long for rare cancers to receive the attention, coordination and investment they deserve.
"This Bill is about putting responsibility where it belongs, improving how research is led and coordinated, and making it easier for patients to access clinical trials that could transform outcomes.”