§ Mr. FearnTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what financial support Her Majesty's Government have given to research trials of cytokines, particularly interferon, in treatment of common cancers.
3. Mr. JacksonThe Medical Research Council, which receives its grant-in-aid from this Department, is the main 127W agency through which the Government support medical research. The council has mounted three trials involving the use of cytokines in the treatment of cancer, all of which are currently recruiting patients. Details of the trials are as follows:
A phase II evaluation of human lymphoblastoid interferon (Wellferon) in malignant glioma.
This trial was launched in October 1988; the approximate annual support provided by the council is £7,000.A trial of alpha-interferon in chronic myeloid leukaemia
This trial was launched in September 1986 and is one arm of a larger trial of chronic myeloid leukaemia, for which the approximate annual support provided by the council is £23,000.A trial of the use of alpha-2b INF in the plateau phase of myelomatosis.
This trial was launched in December 1988 and is one arm of a larger trial of myelomatosis, for which the trial co-ordinator receives grant support of approximately £32,000 per annum. In addition, the council provides approximately £13,000 per annum for this trial.