18 Nov 05

The University of Oxford and GlaxoSmithKline will be undertaking a collaboration in cancer research to be conducted through leading clinical centres in India.

With coordination from the University's Department of Clinical Pharmacology and initial three-year funding from GSK, the collaboration will establish the first Indian cancer-trials network, comprising a number of India's leading senior oncologists at major cancer centres.

The collaboration will enable the evaluation of new cancer treatments in a range of cancer types, including gall bladder, liver and cervical cancers, which are more prevalent in India than in Europe or North America.

The UK researchers will collaborate with senior oncologists at six Indian centres: the Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi; Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences, Panjagutta, Hyderabad; Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bangalore; Tata Memorial Hospital, Parel, Mumbai; the Regional Cancer Center, Trivandrum, Kerala; and the Gujarat Cancer Center, Asarwa, Ahmedabad.

The network's management team will be led by Professor David Kerr, Rhodes Professor of Cancer Therapeutics and Clinical Pharmacology at Oxford and director of the UK's National Translational Cancer Research Network (NTRAC). Professor Kerr said: 'We at Oxford are delighted to lead this unique opportunity between Indian centres of clinical excellence and a research-based company such as GSK. Much like NTRAC, the aim of Indian network is to build a research infrastructure and workforce capacity that will support the advancement of novel anti-cancer therapeutics from the laboratory into the clinic and to test their promise in each stage of clinical trials, putting the network on a par with the best in the world for conducting cancer trials.'

Allen Oliff, senior vice president and head of the GSK Centre of Excellence for Drug Discovery responsible for cancer therapy, said: 'This collaboration offers benefit to cancer patients in India who will now gain wider access to clinical trials of potential new medicines.'

Dr Vinod Raina, Professor of Medical Oncology and Head of the Delhi Cancer Registry, Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, said: 'This collaboration is further proof of progressive policies being followed in India. The network is a good example of growing professional cooperation between centres within the Indian cancer network as well as with top cancer research experts at Oxford and GSK. India and Britain are now considered as the ideal collaborating partners. It is hoped that the network, through these publicly funded regional cancer centres, will provide a platform for cancer research with priority to carry out research in cancers common in India like cervical, head and neck, gall bladder and liver cancers.

'India currently has one million cases of cancer and Indian patients will now have the benefit of access to new anticancer agents at a much earlier stage than in the past. The initial emphasis will be on up gradation of existing research infrastructures and in setting up standard operating procedures as per international standards.'