Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Raises £200m for Oncology Investment

Cancer Research UK (CRUK) in London is backing a whopping amount of £200m for oncology investment to aid companies that are focused on finding and introducing new cancer treatments.

The world’s largest private cancer research organization CRUK has joined hands with SV Health Investors (that is a 25-year-old venture capital company in the UK) to support developments in oncology. The collective venture of the two giants has been named as the SV7 Health Impact Fund.

CRUK’s first-ever collaboration with this venture capital firm is expected to reserve not less than 60% of the total money for oncology research investment. Most of this amount is anticipated to reach corporations in Britain only.

“The opportunities here are great. Valuations are much better than in the US, and we can go more quickly from scientific insight into the clinic in the UK.”

 Kate Bingham, managing partner of SV Health Investors.

As per the chief executive of CRUK, Michelle Mitchell, the charity already makes oncology investments amounting to £400m annually to fund research in the field that benefits cancer patients. She further added that CRUK’s partnership with SV is just another venture that exhibits the organization’s belief that a lot still needs to be done to serve the sufferers better.

At another instance, the chief executive of CRUK’s Cancer Research Technology, Kates Iain Foulkes, said:

“We need to encourage more entrepreneurialism if we want to get more medicines to patients to beat cancer . . . This new fund, in partnership with SV, will be a huge boost to advancing cancer research here in the UK.”

The same is what Kate Bingham, the managing partner of SV Health Investors, confirmed, saying:

“This partnership gives us the opportunity to look much more closely at what is coming through the oncology research pipeline.”

As a result of CRUK’s efforts and oncology investments, there are over 30 potential cancer medicines in the pipeline, while 8 have already made it to the market. The organization grossed £101m from sales, licensing, and the royalties in 2018, which was again set aside for oncology investments and reinvested soon.

Miss Mitchell of CRUK also highlighted that the research that is being funded from cancer in the present time will also be helpful in treating other diseases. She further added that those diseases too could be addressed by the SV7 fund.