§ Mr. Pavittasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what additional financial support he proposes to give to the co-ordinating committee on cancer research for the clinical trials now being conducted on the use of the drug Interferon in cancer therapy; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneI have been asked to reply.
The co-ordinating committee on cancer research acts in an advisory capacity to three major voluntary bodies supporting cancer research and to the Medical 57W Research Council. The committee does not itself receive or administer funds, nor does it conduct clinical trials. I assume that the clinical trials to which the question refers are those supported by the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, which is one of the three voluntary bodies sponsoring the committee. For futher details of this trial, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for Health to the hon. Member for Westhoughton (Mr. Stott) on 30 July.—[Vol. 989, c. 753.]
The Medical Research Council, which receives a grant-in-aid from the science budget, is continuing its basic research into the production and purification of Interferon. The council wishes to begin additional clinical trials as soon as sufficient supplies of Interferon become available.