Thanks to the efforts of our supporters and friends we have had an increase in income this year and our expenditure continues to remain very low. We can justifiably continue to claim that 97% of donations go towards our charitable objectives. There is much good news to report in 2019:
o The Roche trial, called CUPISCO, is now well underway in UK centres as well as in 22 other countries worldwide. The trial is testing the efficacy of molecular profiling techniques and treatment options that include immunotherapy drugs.
o Making decisions about tests, treatment, research involvement, and palliative care can be bewildering for the CUP patient. In conjunction with Sue Ryder we launched a series of simple-to-use Patient Decision Aids to help with these difficult decisions.
o In May we held the latest in our international conferences – Cancer of Unknown Primary in the Era of Precision Medicine – bringing together CUP experts from around the world to discuss the latest research and developments in CUP
o The immunotherapy trial – CUPEM – led by Dr Wasan has begun recruiting patients at three hospitals in London. We have contributed significant funding towards this trial.
o We have made a further grant to the CRUK Manchester Institute to progress Circulating Tumour Cell (CTC) research on CUP patients.
As was very evident at our international conference, the science is moving fast but – to use TS Eliot’s expression: ‘between the idea and the reality falls the shadow’. The challenge today is to see the relevant scientific advances for CUP move from the shadow to become mainstream.
Please see our Annual Report and Accounts for more details,
With Best Wishes for Christmas and the New Year