NCRI Cancer Clinical Trials Units Group
Guidance documents
Collaboration between clinical trials units (CTUs), working in partnership with clinical investigators (CIs), and pharmaceutical company partners is a key aspect of UK clinical cancer research and has been a key contributor to the growth of clinical trial activity in cancer over the past decade. In order to expedite successful partnerships a consistent approach to collaboration is required.
The NCRI Cancer CTU Group have developed two sets of guidelines to aid these collaborations, Principles for collaboration with pharmaceutical company partners and Reasonable access to and sharing of trial data with pharmaceutical company partners
» Download the Principles for collaboration guidance here (PDF)
» Download the Reasonable sharing of trial data guidance here (PDF)

Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre Trials Unit (MAHSC-CTU)
Liverpool Clinical Trials Unit (LCTU), Liverpool
Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit (CRCTU), Birmingham
Warwick Clinical Trials Unit
Centre for Trials Research, Cardiff University
Bristol Randomised Trials Collaboration (BRTC)
Oxford Clinical Trials
Research Unit (OCTRU)
Southampton Clinical Trials Unit
Institute of Cancer Research Clinical Trials and Statistics Unit (ICR-CTSU), Sutton
Kings Cancer Prevention Trials Unit, London
Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit (MRC CTU at UCL), London
Cancer Research UK & University College London Cancer Trials Centre (CRUK & UCL CTC), London
Cambridge Clinical Trials Unit, Cambridge
Clinical Trials Research Unit (CTRU), Leeds
Cancer Clinical Trials Unit Scotland (CaCTUS), Edinburgh
Cancer Clinical Trials Unit Scotland (CaCTUS), Glasgow
[X]
Click on a CTU to display more information.
Name of CTU |
URL |
Specialisms* |
Directors Group Representative* |
Operations Leads Group Representative* |
Liverpool Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit (LCTU), Liverpool |
Click here to visit their website |
Disease areas:
- Pancreatic
- Haemato-oncology
- Hepatobiliary
- Urology
- Breast
- Palliative Care
- Head and Neck
- Uveal Melanoma
Therapeutic areas:
- Chemotherapy
- Neoadjuvant and Adjuvant therapies
- Targeted treatments
- Predictive Biomarkers
- Imaging technologies
- Immunotherapy
- Surgery
- Radiotherapy technologies
Methodological areas:
- Information Systems – Development and Management of IS systems for clinical trials
- Statistics and Bioinformatics – Clinical Trial Design and Methodology, Analytical Methods
- Phase III Study – extensive experience in designing and conducting PHASE III RCTs
- Translational sub-studies
- GCP Labs and Biobanking
|
Miss Paula Ghaneh |
Seema Chauhan |
Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre Trials Unit (MAHSC-CTU) |
Click here to visit their website |
Disease areas:
- Breast
- Lung
- Colorectal
- Prostate
- Bladder
- Head and neck
- Melanoma
Therapeutic areas:
- Targeted treatments
- Radiotherapy technologies
- Predictive biomarkers
Methodological areas:
- Biomarker evaluation
- Trial conduct (including accrual, retention, data monitoring)
- Early phase trial design
|
Mr Philip Barley |
TBC |
Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit (CRCTU), Birmingham |
Click here to visit their website |
Disease areas:
- Breast
- Lung
- Head and neck
- Hepatobiliary
- Skin
- Haematological malignancies
- Paediatric cancers
Therapeutic areas:
- Targeted/stratified medicine
- Multi-modality treatment trials including surgery and radiotherapy
Methodological areas:
- International
- Early phase
- Late phase
- Bayesian
- Adaptive design
|
Professor Pamela Kearns |
Dr Sarah Bowden |
Warwick Clinical Trials Unit |
Click here to visit their website |
Disease Areas
- Breast
- Head & Neck
- Upper GI
- Myeloma
- Bladder
- Prostate
Therapeutic Areas
- Supportive care
- Predictive biomarkers
- Targeted treatments
- Radiotherapy
Methodological Areas
- Large complex trials
- Translational sub-studies
- Clinical trial statistics & methodology
- Health Economics
- Quality of Life
- Qualitative Research
- PPI
- Links to systems biology
|
Professor Janet Dunn |
Joanne Grumett |
Wales Cancer Trials Unit (WCTU), Cardiff |
Click here to visit their website |
Therapeutic areas:
- Radiotherapy related trials & quality assurance
- Palliative care & symptom control research
Methodological areas:
|
Dr Richard Adams |
Dr Lisette Nixon |
Bristol Randomised Trials Collaboration (BRTC) |
Click here to visit their website |
Disease areas:
Methodological areas:
- Complex interventional trials
- Qualitative research to understand trial recruitment and conduct
|
Dr Athene Lane |
Jodi Taylor |
Oxford Clinical Trials Research Unit (OCTRU) |
Click here to visit their website |
TBC |
Professor Tim Maughan |
Sarah Pearson |
Southampton Clinical Trials Unit |
Click here to visit their website |
Disease areas:
- Lymphoid malignancy
- Thoracic malignancy
- Upper GI
- Urology
- Head & neck
- Colorectal
Therapeutic areas:
- Immunotherapy
- Surgery
- Chemotherapy
- Supportive care
- Primary care oncology
- Early diagnosis
|
Professor Gareth Griffiths |
Jane Robertson |
Institute of Cancer Research Clinical Trials and Statistics Unit (ICR-CTSU), Sutton |
Click here to visit their website |
Disease areas:
- Breast
- Prostate
- Bladder
- Penile
- Head and neck
- Melanoma
- Lung
- Rare cancers
Therapeutic areas:
- Systemic therapies
- Targeted treatments
- Radiotherapy technologies
- Predictive biomarkers
Methodological areas:
- Biomarker evaluation
- Patterns of disease relapse
- Use of routinely available data
|
Professor Judith Bliss |
Claire Snowdon |
Cancer Prevention Trials Unit at Barts CTU, London |
Click here to visit their website |
Disease areas:
- Breast
- Cervix
- Colorectal
- Head and neck
- Oesophageal
- Prostate
Therapeutic areas:
- Chemoprevention
- Screening
- Hormonal therapy
- Aspirin
- Vitamin D
- Smoking cessation interventions
- Surgery
- Devices
- Exercise
Please note that we would like to make it clear that our unit is not involved in these therapeutic areas: “NOT chemotherapy”, “NOT radiotherapy” and “NOT immunotherapy”
Methodological areas:
- Use of routinely available data
- International trials
- Factorial designs
- Cluster randomisation
- Remote monitoring
|
Professor Peter Sasieni |
Benoit Aigret |
Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit (MRC CTU at UCL), London |
Click here to visit their website |
Disease areas:
- Prostate
- Renal
- Colorectal
- Ovarian
- Testis
- Brain
- Upper GI cancers
- Viral-related malignancies
Therapeutic areas:
Methodology areas:
- International collaboration or with special relevance in the developing world
- Development and conduct of new trial designs for late clinical trials
- Biomarker-stratified or precision medicine trials
- Platform trials
- Multi-arm, multi-stage trials
|
Professor Rick Kaplan |
Dr Claire Amos |
Cancer Research UK & University College London Cancer Trials Centre (CRUK & UCL CTC), London |
Click here to visit their website |
Disease areas:
- Head and neck
- Haematology
- Brain
- Upper and lower gastrointestinal tract
- Gynaecology
- Lung
- Sarcoma
- Rare cancers
Therapeutic areas:
- Chemotherapy
- Advanced therapies (gene therapies, cell therapies, vaccines)
- Radiotherapy (including stereotactic ablative radiotherapy)
- Surgery
- Targeted treatments (antibodies and small molecules)
- Multimodality treatments
- Diagnosis
- Screening
Methodological areas:
- Prognostic and predictive biomarker evaluation
- Dose escalation trials using Bayesian methods
- Central data monitoring
- Systematic reviews
|
Professor Jonathan Ledermann |
Nicole Gower |
Cambridge Clinical Trials Unit |
Click here to visit their website |
Disease areas:
- Aerodigestive (lung, upper GI, colorectal etc.
- Breast
- CNS
- Haematology
- Melanoma
- Ovary
- Pancreas
- Urology (kidney, prostate etc.)
Therapeutic areas:
- Biomarkers
- Novel therapeutics, inc. immunotherapies
- Radiotherapy
- Molecular Imaging
|
Professor Duncan Jodrell |
Masuma Harrison |
Clinical Trials Research Unit (CTRU), Leeds |
Click here to visit their website |
Disease areas:
- Haematology
- Colorectal
- Hepatobiliary
- Urology
- Breast
- Melanoma
Therapeutic areas:
- Systemic therapies (including chemotherapies and targeted therapies)
- Radiotherapy
- Surgical technologies
- Predictive biomarkers
Methodological areas:
- Biomarker evaluation
- Patterns of disease relapse
- Use of routinely available data
- Early phase designs
- Adaptive and rolling trial designs
|
Professor Julia Brown |
Alex Smith/Gill Booth |
Cancer Clinical Trials Unit Scotland (CaCTUS), Edinburgh |
Click here to visit their website |
Disease areas:
- Breast
- Lung
- Renal
- Neuro-oncology
- Metastatic disease
Therapeutic areas:
- Practice changing phase III trials
- Imaging
- Radiotherapy
Methodological areas:
- Quality of Life trials
- Phase II/III
|
Julie Uttridge |
Julie Uttridge |
Cancer Clinical Trials Unit Scotland (CaCTUS), Glasgow |
Click here to visit their website |
Disease areas:
- Gastrointestinal (colorectal cancer, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), gastroesophageal cancer)
- Gynaecology
- Urology (prostate, bladder and kidney)
- Lung cancer
- Chronic Myeloid Leukemia
- Rare cancers (including Central Nervous System (CNS) and International Rare Cancers Initiative (IRCI))
Therapeutic areas:
- Translational studies
- Early development of novel investigational medicinal products
- Practice changing phase III trials
Methodological areas:
- Stratified medicine trials
- Phase I / II
|
Dr Rob Jones |
Andrea Harkin |