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Written question asked by Lord Mott (Conservative) on Wednesday, 20 May 2026, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 4 June 2026. It was answered by Baroness Merron (Labour) on Tuesday, 9 June 2026 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Cancer: Immunotherapy

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to ensure the wider rollout of immunotherapies to treat cancer in the NHS, other than checkpoint inhibitor drugs and mRNA vaccines.

Answer

The National Cancer Plan, published on 4 February 2026, sets out several actions and commitments on immunotherapies, to be delivered within the next ten years. Working alongside the 10-Year Health Plan, the National Cancer Plan aims to ensure wider access to advanced treatments, to personalise cancer treatment for all who need it.

The plan sets out how access to advanced treatments and personalised medicine, supported by genomic testing, will be sped up and widened. This includes a commitment to expand access to targeted and personalised therapies, such as Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR-T) cell therapy, alongside ongoing work on mRNA vaccines.

The creation and roll out of the next generation of personalised treatments is a significant commitment set out in the Plan. New technologies, including artificial intelligence, molecular radiotherapy, genomics, alongside mRNA vaccines, offer the possibility of greater advances. Ongoing work on genomics will support the development of new treatments that have the best opportunity of curing an individual’s specific cancer and preventing its recurrence. Progress in cancer vaccines through the Vaccine Innovation Pathway and Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad (CVLP) and will deliver up to 10,000 cancer vaccines by 2030.

The CVLP is a platform that is increasing access and speeding up recruitment to clinical trials for personalised cancer vaccines and other immunotherapies for patients who have been diagnosed with cancer. In 2025, the scope of the CVLP was expanded beyond personalised cancer vaccines to also include other immunotherapies. NHS England is responsible for the overall delivery of the CVLP and has contracted Southampton Clinical Trials Unit to manage the day-to-day delivery of the platform. The platform is designed to be company and clinical trial agnostic so any company can contact the CVLP to explore how the platform can support their research.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL333
Session
2026-27
Subjects
Cancer Immunotherapy
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk