What we do

Cancer Research UK and UCL Cancer Trials Centre is a research department within the UCL Cancer Institute and is part of the Cancer Research UK Centre at UCL. We lead on the design, conduct and analysis of national and international cancer trials and other research projects. The CR UK & UCL CTC is a UKCRC registered Clinical Trials Unit and NCRI Cancer CTU group member recognised for its experience and expertise in the development and delivery of clinical trials and research projects about cancer.

The Unit currently has more than 100 staff and is running between 100-120 trials.

The care of patients on trials is provided by hospitals and clinics in the UK and abroad.

The Cancer Trials Centre (CTC) has five key aims. These are:

  • To develop and conduct high quality trials to update clinical practice and improve outcomes for patients
  • To evaluate new ways of treating or detecting a wide variety of cancers using multi-modal approaches
  • To encourage and nurture national and international collaboration with other researchers in cancer
  • To translate laboratory innovations into clinical trials and generate new treatments
  • To train and develop a new generation of cancer clinical trials specialists
What is a clinical trials unit (CTU)?

A CTU is a research unit with overall responsibility for the; design and setup of trials, database development and management, statistical planning and analysis of the data both during the trial and for the publication of results, safety, ethical considerations and compliance with regulations. CTUs provide regular monitoring (either centrally or on-site) of the hospitals and clinics treating the patients to ensure that procedures and protocols are being followed.

What type of clinical trials and research projects are run at CTC?

CTC mainly manages phase 1, 2 and 3 trials

PHASE I
  • Studying safety of drug in humans
  • Finding the maximum safe dose
  • Small number of patients
  • c. 20% of CTC studies are phase I trials
PHASE II
  • Safety study
  • Identify side effects
  • Measure effectiveness
  • Up to 300 patients
  • About 40% of CTC studies
PHASE III
  • Study to measure effectiveness
  • Monitor side effects
  • 100 to 1,000s of patients
  • About 30% of CTC studies
PHASE IV
  • Monitor long term effectiveness
Other work
  • Cancer screening and early detection
  • Large scale observational studies: cancer diagnosis and translational and correlative science
  • Tobacco & health
  • Systematic reviews
  • Methodologies for phase I/II trials

To find out more about CTC trials, take a look at the Trial Pages

Contact Us
Cancer Research UK & UCL Cancer Trials Centre
University College London
90 Tottenham Court Road
London
W1T 4TJ

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Email:
ctc.enquiries@ucl.ac.uk
Telephone:
+44 (0)20 7679 9898 (General CTC Enquiries)
Fax:
020 7679 9899
University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT +44 (0)20 7679 2000

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