Clinical Trial Award

Career level: Established independent researcher Clinician

Research area:

• Clinical trials
• Surgery research
• Radiotherapy research
• Biomarker research
• Pre-clinical research

Funding period Up to 10 years

Supports interventional clinical trials of cancer treatment (including systemic treatment, radiotherapy and surgery) with the aim of improving outcome.

Eligibility:

Applications must be:

• From a UK university, research institution, clinical centre or clinical trials unit (CTU)
• For investigator-led, interventional studies of cancer treatment
• Developed with the involvement of an UKCRC registered CTU

Scientific remit The types of studies that fit this scheme are typically:

• Phase 1a/2 dose finding trials testing safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy (including novel combinations of therapies and radiotherapy, and novel indications)
• Phase 1b/2 or phase 2 trials testing the viability of larger trials, including the ability to recruit and/or to explore tolerability or efficacy of treatments
• Window of opportunity studies
• Phase 2/3 or phase 3 trials to investigate the efficacy, effectiveness and tolerability of interventions with the aim of improving survival.

Studies of cancer treatment approaches that aim to achieve equivalence of survival whilst reducing toxicity or optimising treatment delivery will be considered where the potential for a significant impact on patient outcomes can be demonstrated.

Funding for translational research that allows us to learn more from the clinical trial can be requested in applications to this scheme.

If your proposal includes research that seeks to enable the early detection of cancer or pre-cancerous states, you may be eligible for our early detection funding opportunities.

If your study is an early phase trial requiring full management/support from our Centre for Drug Development you should consider the Drug Development Project scheme.

As part of the Clinical Trial outline application you can apply for costs associated with non-regulatory pre-clinical studies required for the initiation of early phase clinical trials of cancer treatments including, but not limited to, proof-of-concept studies for drug re-purposing and novel combination approaches for drugs post-candidate stage.***

This scheme will not fund:

• Industry sponsored trials
• Long term follow up
• Collection and banking of samples for future unspecified translational research
• Regulatory (GLP) toxicology
• Pre-clinical studies for first-in-human studies
• Explorative pre-clinical studies, e.g. to determine candidate selection or early drug development

What is funded:

Funding from the Clinical Trial Award can be used for:

• Salaries for researchers and technical staff
• Running expenses
• Equipment

Funding from the Pre-Clinical Package can be used for:

• Salaries for named researchers and technical staff already employed within the group
• Running expenses

Read our costs guidance for full details of the costs you can claim in your application.

Please note that successful funding of the pre-clinical package and positive results of the pre-clinical experiments do not guarantee support of the full Clinical Trial Award application. The review of the full clinical trial application is independent and a separate funding decision.

*Typically up to 4 years for early phase or feasibility studies, and up to 10 years for late phase trials. Funding for the pre-clinical package can be for up to 12 months.

**Typically up to £50,000 per year for early phase or feasibility studies, and up to £150,000 per year for late phase trials. Larger amounts may be considered with appropriate justification, particularly where substantial translational research is included. Costs up to £200,000 for one year can be requested for a pre-clinical package as part of the clinical trial outline application, although larger amounts may be considered with appropriate justification.