Cancer: Only 5% of the €106m Ireland invested in cancer research went towards prevention
Most of the cancer research funds were directed towards evaluating existing treatments, developing new ones, and the causes of disease. Alamy Stock Picture
More than €106m was invested in cancer research in Ireland over the course of just three years but more needs to be directed towards prevention of the disease.
A report from the Health Research Board shows that 397 cancer research grants were delivered between 2019 and 2022 in Ireland.
Between them, the HRB — the State’s largest health and social care research agency — and Science Foundation Ireland accounted for €69m of the research undertaken, or just under 65%.
However, the vast majority of the research funds granted were directed towards evaluating existing treatments, developing new ones, and the causes of disease.
Less than €5m, or under 5%, of the funds granted were used for bolstering existing research and for researching the prevention of cancers and general wellbeing, as well as research into health and caring services generally, the HRB said, with that low level of funding representing a potential underinvestment in those areas.
“The fact that three areas currently represent 75% of all cancer research investment points to potential investment gaps, such as prevention, promotion of wellbeing, and underpinning research, which should be targeted in future,” Oonagh Ward, head of research and innovation infrastructures with the HRB, said.
She added that while the HRB invests heavily in the infrastructure to support clinical cancer research, overall funding for the trials themselves “is very low”, making it essential that researchers are encouraged to avail of alternative funding sources in future.
To that end, the report highlighted the fact that significant funding opportunities exist in Europe which Irish researchers could potentially avail of in order to cover some of the gaps noted in the report.
Ms Ward said a further evaluation of such European funding by the HRB could “deliver real value” for researchers.
HRB chief executive Mairead O'Driscoll meanwhile said the report could help to inform the new national cancer strategy “to support a strategic and coordinated approach to cancer research investment in Ireland”.
Last September, the Irish Cancer Society said that less than 3% of Irish cancer patients are currently getting on trials, while Denmark had carried out more than three times as many clinical trials as Ireland between 2018 and 2023, despite the two countries having similar populations.
In addition, while the National Cancer Strategy aims to give 6% of cancer patients access to trials, the reality is “only 2-3% of cancer patients currently benefitting from trials”, the society said.
