NEW cancer treatments could be found after a million-pound investment in research in Southampton.

Adults and children with cancer could benefit from the £1.8m boost for the Southampton Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC).

It will allow them to develop treatments of the future - including immunotherapies – as well as improving existing treatments over the next five years.

The funding has been made possible by a partnership between Cancer Research UK, the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the Little Princess Trust specifically for children’s cancers.

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The city’s ECMC is made up of experts from the University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.

The team work together to provide patients with access to cutting-edge cancer treatments.

Testing these treatments helps to establish new ways of detecting and monitoring the disease and to evaluate how it responds.

Southampton ECMC lead, Prof Andrew Davies, said: “We are delighted Southampton has secured this funding.

“Clinical trials are crucial to new and improved treatments becoming adopted as standard treatments by the NHS and this funding will allow us to further advance how we can treat cancer effectively.

“Thousands of patients have been provided with access to life-saving drugs and therapies through the Southampton ECMC and this funding will benefit people with cancer across the South Coast region and beyond.”

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Southampton is part of a network of 17 ECMCs across the UK, funded by Cancer Research UK, which deliver clinical trials of promising new treatment.

Dr Karen Underwood, Director of Research & Development at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, said: "I’m delighted that our ECMC has been awarded this funding.

"Our ECMC is an integral part of our research infrastructure, and this award reflects the strengths of our hospital-university partnership here in Southampton.

"This funding will ensure we continue to be at the forefront of cancer care, providing our patients with access to the very latest treatments and the best possible care."

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