Charity aims to raise €3m for research

A PIONEERING Irish cancer research centre has launched a national charity to help fast-track new treatments for inoperable lung cancers that will extend the lives of patients.

The Cork Cancer Research Centre’s (CCRC) Breakthrough Cancer Research charity, which was launched yesterday, aims to raise €3 million next year to fund three research programmes into lung cancer, the most common cause of death from the disease in Ireland.

The charity will also support international research.

CCRC, under the leadership of renowned surgeon and researcher Professor Gerald O’Sullivan, has been involved in groundbreaking cancer research for 12 years.

It has developed several treatments and devices, including electro-chemotherapy to treat unresponsive skin cancers; a device for the treatment of inoperable colorectal cancers; and the use of non-pathogenic viruses and bacteria as delivery vehicles for certain gene-based cancer treatments.

Its researchers recently won an innovation award for a new device to treat inoperable lung cancers; they have developed a combination treatment for drug-resistant lung cancers which is due to go to clinical trial soon; and the centre’s gene therapy team is also designing treatments, which help the immune system recognise and kill lung cancer cells anywhere in the body.

CCRC general manager and investigator Declan Soden said: “We are delighted with the launch of Breakthrough Cancer Research, which will hopefully accelerate the transition from new ideas to treatment of patients.”

Dáithí Ó Sé helped launch the charity yesterday and said it will help people channel their energies into raising funds to improve the prospects for people fighting cancer.

Broadcaster Matt Cooper, who has also backed the charity, said: “Every person in Ireland is somehow touched by the ravages of cancer.

“There is no doubt that research into new treatments is wholly necessary and indeed crucial if we are to see any improvements in both the quality and quantity of life for cancer sufferers.”

The charity will also support teams of university-based scientists and clinical investigators at numerous hospital in Ireland, the US and Britain.

Nobel laureate James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, has endorsed the work of the Irish scientists and has made a substantial donation to the charity.