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On Friday the 16th of January, peers backed plans to improve treatment and research into rare cancers.

Under the plan, there'd be a legal duty on the Health Secretary to promote research,

more data sharing to improve access to clinical trials,

and a review into regulations to encourage the development of certain drugs.

Introducing the bill into the Lords, Labour's Lady Elliot reckoned it was a bit misleading

to talk about rare cancers.

Because they represent 47% of all UK cancer diagnosis, which is 180,000 people a year,

being diagnosed with one of these rare cancers.

However, disproportionately they represent 55% of cancer deaths in the UK. But Lady Elliot

said while there had been progress for several types of the disease, treatment and survival

rates for many rare cancers had not improved for decades. Another Labour peer, Lady Morgan of Dreflin,

picked up on a proposal in the bill

to ensure patients were offered the chance

to take part in clinical trials.

Far too often, my lords,

patients diagnosed with a rare cancer

are not offered the opportunity to take part in trials.

Cancer 52 did a survey recently of 1,400 patients and found that 82% were not

offered the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial. A conservative former minister, Lord

...