‘Children with cancer cannot wait’: the human cost of clinical trial delays after Brexit

Two examples illustrate how the UK’s departure from the EU is derailing UK cancer research, leaving patients in limbo and unable to access pioneering treatments. eSMART is a trial of new targeted drugs and chemotherapy for children, teenagers and young adults whose cancer has returned or treatment has stopped working. Children in the UK will finally be able to join the trial this year, but only because a British charity, Cancer Research UK, provided £92,000 to help plug the funding gap. The eSMART trial lead in the UK, Dr Lynley Marshall, told the Guardian that Brexit had made it harder to launch pioneering cancer trials in Britain. It is facing extra costs of up to £50,000 as a result of Brexit.