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How is your cancer research money spent?

BE ASSURED THAT SPECIALIST charities do deal exclusively with 'their' cancer - even if they send their money to general cancer research organisations (read on for an explanation). The general charities meanwhile will put your money in a pot which pays for ongoing projects; you can usually find out what these are from their websites (example from Action Medical Research).

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In terms of the actual work, only a few large charities like Cancer Research UK actually carry out their own medical research and drug development. Smaller ones commission specialist research from larger charities, university teams or hospital units.
The charity often patents its research findings and therefore receives royalties
After the research has finished, and if it bears fruit, the drug research and development will usually be taken on by a pharmaceutical company like GlaxoSmithKline. But before you shudder at the thought of your altruistic donation aiding pharmaceutical giants*, you should know:

  • The majority of drug development in the UK is done by pharmaceuticals because no-one else can afford it. The costs are astronomical. Even the largest cancer charities have to involve drugs or biotech companies, either for financial reasons or for their research expertise.
  • The charity often patents its research findings and therefore receives royalties, and so can make a profit or at least cover the costs of research.
  • Drugs companies don't themselves do the initial research; that's the speciality of charity or government-funded projects.
So you can take comfort that your donation to a small cancer charity could be the tiny spark needed to trigger a massively expensive process... that produces a life-saving cancer treatment.

* = There is controversy around the links between charities and "Big Pharma", but it's about the advice they give, not the research they do. See The Times Online article, Who pays the piper?