Brain cancer: government speeds up the route from lab to patient

On 14 October 2026 the government set out four steps meant to shorten the road a new brain tumour medicine travels from the laboratory to the patient. The announcement followed a Downing Street meeting between Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Health and Social Care Secretary Yvette Cooper and Archie Goodburn, the 25-year-old swimmer with an inoperable brain tumour who had publicly asked the Prime Minister to move faster.

What exactly did the government announce on 14 October?

Four specific steps, each with a deadline or a named owner. First, an immediate expert review led by Professor Anthony Chalmers, Chair of the Brain Tumour Group within the UK Collaborative for Cancer Clinical Research, reporting within three months on what has actually changed for patients since the government's 2018 review and what is still holding progress back. Second, a national action plan built on the review's findings. Third, a new national brain cancer clinical lead, to be appointed by the Department of Health and Social Care. Fourth, the Prime Minister has asked the medicines regulator, the MHRA, to finish its review of the rules for medicines treating rare conditions in two years rather than three.

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Why are the orphan drug rules being reviewed?

Because those rules decide the terms on which a medicine can get a marketing authorisation in the UK at all. Medicines for rare conditions are called orphan drugs: few patients means small trials and thinner commercial logic for a manufacturer. Brain tumours fall almost entirely into this category, and if evidence requirements ignore small trial populations, a promising drug can sit for years without reaching anyone. Cutting the review from three years to two is not the rule change itself — it is a commitment to work out sooner which rules need changing.

What is the Rare Cancers Act 2026 and how does it fit in?

It is the Act passed in 2026 (Rare Cancers Act 2026, c. 8) that requires the review in the first place. The Act runs to six sections, and the first three carry the substance: section 1 covers the review of the law on marketing authorisations, section 2 the Secretary of State's duties as to research, and section 3 disclosure of information for research purposes. So the acceleration announced on 14 October speeds up a duty that already exists in law rather than creating a new one.

How many people does this affect?

Figures published with the government release show that in England in 2023, 3,792 people died of malignant brain cancer (code C71). Of those, 278 were under 40 — against 1,711 deaths in that age group from all malignant cancers excluding non-melanoma skin cancer. Brain tumours therefore account for a disproportionate share of cancer deaths among younger people: roughly one in six cancer deaths before the age of 40. That imbalance is why the subject reached Downing Street.

How do you join a clinical trial?

Through the NIHR's Be Part of Research service and through your own clinician. The National Institute for Health and Care Research currently supports 59 brain tumour studies, 35 of them clinical trials testing new treatments. The government said plainly that these studies need participants with different tumour types, and that the Health and Social Care Secretary will host a roundtable with researchers, clinicians and charities to find ways to boost recruitment. The route for a patient is unchanged: search Be Part of Research, discuss taking part with your oncologist, and the research team decides eligibility against that trial's protocol.

What else is running alongside this?

In January 2026 the government announced £25 million for the NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium, with a stated focus on closing the gap between the laboratory and clinical practice. Cancer Research UK has invested more than £116 million in brain tumour research over the past decade, according to its chief executive Michelle Mitchell, and will run a Brain Tumour Conference in 2027. On the same day, 14 October, the MHRA published its own five-year strategy on making the UK a leading place to develop, launch and use new medicines safely.

When should results be visible?

The first checkable date is January 2027, when the expert review is due to report. Its findings are promised to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Brain Tumours and to brain cancer charities. The national action plan follows from there. The MHRA rules review now has to finish a full year earlier than previously scheduled. The appointment of the national clinical lead is promised "in due course" — no date was given, making it the only one of the four steps without a deadline.

What should a patient do right now?

The NHS lists brain tumour symptoms as headaches, seizures, persistent nausea, vomiting and drowsiness, memory or behaviour changes, vision or speech problems, and weakness or loss of sensation on one side of the body. With those signs, see a GP; with a sudden severe seizure, call 999. Tumours are graded 1 to 4, with grades 1 and 2 counted as low grade and 3 and 4 as high grade. Non-cancerous tumours grow slowly and are less likely to return after treatment; cancerous ones are usually high grade and more likely to grow back. The steps announced on 14 October do not change treatment available today — they are about how quickly medicines that do not yet exist will reach patients.