Cancer and heart charities face ‘catastrophic’ losses of income
LIFE-SAVING cancer and heart research could be set back decades because of a catastrophic loss of income by medical charities, leading scientists have warned.
More than 60 experts have written to Boris Johnson to warn that without investment a generation of researchers and their potential breakthroughs could be lost.
The letter from Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation arises from fears that medical charities could lose half their funding this year because shops had closed, fundraising events had been cancelled and direct donations had dipped.
Prof Sir Nilesh Samani, the BHF medical director, said: “The immediate impact is on development of new treatments, but ultimately we could be set back by a decade or more.” He said charities did not want to “go with our begging bowl to the Treasury” but medical research was vital for the health and well-being of the country.
Iain Foulkes, Cancer Research UK’S executive director of research and innovation, said: “The biggest issue is our shops being closed and the loss of big events like Race for Life that involves hundreds of thousands of families.
“We anticipate a V-shaped recovery, but we need help to bridge the gap – the problem is that by time we recover we may have lost a lot of scientists we won’t get back.”
The charities, which between them fund more than half of all Uk-based independent research into cancer and heart disease, said life-saving research would now face “drastic” cutbacks.
More than 150 charities have called on ministers to establish a Life Sciences-charity Partnership Fund, with matched funding from Government for research over the next five years, starting with £310million this year.
“Without support, the UK risks a slide backwards, undermining decades of pioneering and life saving research, as well as losing a generation of new researchers and a major decline in our nation’s international competitiveness in life sciences that we have worked so hard to achieve,” the letter concludes.