Burnham sets 10-year target for cancer cure and fusion breakthrough
Key Points
- Andy Burnham set a 10-year target for UK breakthroughs on cancer, dementia and fusion.
- He made dementia research a national priority at a Manchester summit.
- Government and industry funding totals £48 million for dementia trials.
- Dementia will be an early priority for the £600 million Health Data Research Service.
- Yvette Cooper said dementia will be central to the National Care Service.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham wants the UK to cure cancer and crack nuclear fusion within 10 years.
Burnham set out the ambition at the Innovation Nation Summit in Manchester on Friday (9 October), alongside £48 million for dementia trials.
“We can do it, and we can be the nation in the next 10 years that… does find the cure for cancer, that does make the breakthrough on dementia, or indeed on nuclear fusion,” said Burnham.
“To anyone who says we can’t do that, I say: we did it before, so why not?” he added.
Burnham framed the target as part of a national drive to reindustrialise the UK through high-tech firms and researchers.
He also made dementia research a national priority, confirming funding the government trailed on Thursday (8 October).
“I want Britain to be the country that makes the breakthrough and delivers the cure for dementia the world has been waiting for. That is why I am making dementia research a national priority,” said Burnham.
The government is putting £33 million into the plan through the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Goals programme.
Bristol Myers Squibb, GSK and Gates Ventures are contributing industry funding that takes the total to £48 million.
The money will go towards recruiting more people into clinical trials through The BARBARA Alliance.
“Dementia is a devastatingly cruel disease, not only for those who live with it, but for the families who care for them,” said Burnham.
“For too long, we have accepted dementia as something to be managed later in life, rather than a disease we can defeat. I don’t accept that. In fact, I have real hope that we can come together and do exactly that,” he added.
Burnham also confirmed dementia will be one of the first priorities for the Health Data Research Service.
The government and the Wellcome Trust are backing that service with up to £600 million to join up NHS and research data.
Burnham linked the research push to plans for a National Care Service.
Health Secretary Yvette Cooper said the investment would help the UK make real progress against dementia.
Cooper added that dementia treatment would be one of the central priorities of the National Care Service.
Burnham’s father, Roy, died last month after living with Alzheimer’s.
