Irish Cancer Society welcomes research funding on effective treatment of breast and prostate cancers

The Irish Cancer Society has today welcomed €2.5 million in Government funding towards finding ways to improve the personalised treatment of breast and prostate cancer patients, leading to more effective outcomes.

Professor William Gallagher and Professor William Watson will receive the Science Foundation Ireland grant for their four-year ‘OPTi-PREDICT’ project.

Currently doctors do not have an accurate way of knowing whether many cancers will reoccur once the tumour is removed.

The results of this research could allow doctors to recommend patient treatment that is better suited to the needs of the patient, and avoiding more aggressive treatments for low-risk patients.

Both Professors Gallagher and Watson have a long history of working on research backed by the Irish Cancer Society. Professor Gallagher is Director of the Collaborative Cancer Research Centre ‘BREAST-PREDICT’, which brings together six academic institutions across Ireland and Cancer Trials Ireland to work towards personalised medicine – where each breast cancer patient in Ireland will have treatment tailored to their individual cancer.

Professor Watson is Scientific Director of iPROSPECT (Irish Programme for Stratified Prostate Cancer Therapy), a research initiative that is looking at developing personalised treatment options for patients with advanced prostate cancer.

Their funding is part of an overall investment of €40 million into 24 research projects by the Investigators Programme at Science Foundation Ireland, the national foundation for investment in scientific and engineering research.

The Irish Cancer Society collaborates with Science Foundation Ireland on the co-funding of Blood Cancer Network Ireland, a €2.7 million cancer research and clinical trials initiative which brings together experts in Galway, Cork and Dublin with a shared interest in blood cancer research.

Commenting on the funding, Head of Research at the Irish Cancer Society, Dr Robert O’Connor said, “Improved screening programmes in recent years have led to more and more diagnoses of breast and prostate cancer at an earlier stage. This makes the ‘OPTi-PREDICT’ research project all the more important, as it has the potential to make sure treatment is best personalised to the individual’s diagnosis.

“On behalf of the irish Cancer Society I would like to congratulate Professors Gallagher and Watson on this funding announcement, and commend the work of Science Foundation Ireland in realising the potential of research into cancer treatment on the lives of patients throughout the country and beyond.”