Most cancer research isn’t built around the needs of children and young people. Research organisations need to work together to change that. 

That’s why, in September 2024, our innovation specialists at Cancer Research Horizons teamed up with LifeArc to launch the C-Further consortium.  

C-Further exists to bring together multiple groups with one clear purpose: developing more effective, targeted medicines for children and young people with cancer. 

Now, as the consortium marks its first anniversary, we’re delighted to announce that Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity is joining as a core partner and bringing a further £10m in funding – its largest research commitment to date. 

Stronger together

GOSH Charity is the UK’s largest charitable funder dedicated to child health research. Its support marks a pivotal step forward for C-Further, bringing expertise, influential networks and strategic reach that will help expand the consortium’s impact.

Researchers from around the world have already applied to be part of C-Further’s drug pipeline, and now the additional funding will help C-Further select, support and speed up more of the most promising projects.

With strong links into Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, GOSH Charity also brings vital scientific depth, clinical insight, and meaningful relationships with patient communities. All that expertise and experience will help shape C-Further’s ongoing strategy, develop its project portfolio, and scale up its operations.

“Too many children face cancer with treatments that weren’t designed for them,” said Aoife Regan, Director of Impact and Charitable Programmes at GOSH Charity. “Joining C-Further allows us to channel our funding, expertise and networks into a global effort that puts children first – where new drugs are developed with their unique needs in mind.”

What we’re up against

Most children and young people diagnosed with cancer today are treated with drugs that were developed generations ago, for much older people.  

That’s a problem because childhood cancers are biologically and developmentally distinct from adult cancers. Treating them with repurposed adult drugs can come with a greater risk of serious long-term side effects.  

But those adult drugs are still common because the cancers that affect children and young people are so much rarer and harder to study. Carrying out research and securing the necessary funding to develop and specific treatments is much more difficult.  

In fact, in the 15 years prior to initiating C-Further, only seven new drugs were approved for use exclusively in children and young people in the US and EU.  

C-Further has been specifically designed to change that. Its goal is to help the sector produce twice as many children and young people-specific treatments in the next 20 years. 

“This partnership with GOSH Charity isn’t just additive—it’s catalytic,” said Thomas Edwards, Business Development Executive at Cancer Research Horizons. “It deepens our ability to build a diverse pipeline of new drugs designed specifically for children and young people with cancer and it helps move towards our ultimate goal of overcoming systemic barriers to progress—together with the community.”