Over the past 40 years, many initiatives have tried to identify more effective drug treatments for brain tumours. However, the track record of their translation to licensed products has been extremely disappointing. I am delighted to say that I believe the tide is now turning.
As a paediatric oncology trainee I began my training in children’s brain tumour research at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia in 1986. On returning to the UK, I was appointed to work at the University of Nottingham, where I helped establish the Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre (CBTRC) in 1997.
In 2017, we celebrated the CBTRC’s 20th anniversary and were delighted to be awarded funding from Children with Cancer UK to launch the Children’s Brain Tumour Drug Delivery Consortium (CBTDDC).
The CBTDDC was tasked with raising awareness of the ‘drug delivery challenge’; that is, ensuring that treatments either cross or bypass the blood-brain barrier and reach the tumour in therapeutic and non-toxic concentrations. The consortium has also built, and continues to build, an international network of multi-disciplinary world-leading researchers and clinicians to take on this challenge. By combining expertise in both drug development and delivery systems, it will become possible to evaluate the effectiveness of potential treatments without the compromise of the poor brain penetration that has hindered progress to date.
I am delighted that we are now seeing a change in attitude and awareness of the importance of drug delivery in brain tumours. There is a growing number of publications, cancer charities are increasing investment in brain tumour and drug delivery research, research leaders are incorporating drug delivery into their scientific projects, and new devices are in early clinical trial. I believe that CBTDDC has significantly contributed to this change in attitude.