Abstract
Although the UK government has promised to continue financing scientific research through 2020 if its split with the EU occurs before then, cancer researchers remain concerned about the potential consequences, such as fewer clinical trials and limits on their ability to work across borders.
Earlier this month, the UK government announced that it will underwrite EU-supported research through 2020 if the UK–EU split, known as Brexit, takes place before then and causes existing endeavors to lose funding. The move offered some reassurance to scientists, at least temporarily. However, cancer researchers remain nervous about their professional prospects after that.
For now, nothing has changed: UK scientists can apply for grants from the EU; funded grants remain funded; clinical trials under way continue; and scientists from the EU can work in the UK. However, says Mark Lawler, PhD, chair in Translational Cancer Genomics at the Center for Cancer Research and Cell Biology at Queen's University Belfast, UK, “there has been no indication of what will happen regarding future funding opportunities once the UK has exited the EU.”
Within the UK, most cancer research funding comes from large charities such as London-based Cancer Research UK. Combined with money from the British government, total cancer research funding from those sources has recently hovered around £500 million ($659 million) per year. However, because the British economy could slide toward recession due to the Brexit decision, these budgets could tighten, says Vicky Forster, PhD, a postdoctoral research associate at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research at Newcastle University in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Additional funding comes from the European Commission, the EU's executive body, to support both UK-based and international research. Between 2007 and 2014, British researchers were involved in more than 80% of EU-funded cancer grants, which totaled 1.5 billion euros ($1.69 billion). Non-EU nations such as Switzerland contribute to the European Commission so that scientists there can apply for EU funding; the UK might have the same option post-Brexit.
“Historically, there have been very broad and deep collaborative efforts between the UK and our continental partners,” says Richard Baird, MD, PhD, an academic medical oncologist at the University of Cambridge, UK. “Everyone involved wants those to continue.”
Yet already, there are anecdotal reports that UK scientists have been asked to leave collaborative grants, for fear they could compromise a proposal's chances to receive funding, according to the advocacy group Scientists for EU. UK scientists make important contributions to planning and policy decisions relevant to research and clinical trials in the EU, says Lawler, who worries the British might be excluded from these discussions after Brexit.
It's “not beyond the bounds of possibility” that patients in the UK might miss out on EU trial opportunities, Lawler adds. Prior to the vote, Lancet Oncology editors predicted that fewer trials launched might be launched, at least initially, as sponsors wait for clarity.
Further complicating matters, EU researchers account for about 15% of the academic staff at UK universities. Even if they receive permission to keep their posts, Forster says many of her European colleagues find the current climate of xenophobia outside of academia uncomfortable.
“Working together is the way in which we actually help the cancer patient,” says Lawler. “Cancer doesn't know any borders, so why should we?” –Amber Dance