Each year, more than a quarter of a million people are diagnosed with cancer in the UK, one in three people develop the disease at some point and it accounts for one in four deaths.

While it can strike at any age, cancer is more common in older people than in the young: 64 in 100 of all newly diagnosed cases are in people aged 65 or above, and less than 1 per cent are diagnosed in children under 14. While cigarette smoking has been identified as the single most important cause of preventable death in the UK, and one-third of all cancer deaths are linked to smoking, the most commonly diagnosed cancer, of more than 200 different types, is breast cancer.

Unsurprisingly, AMRC members spend more on researching cancer than any other disease, through the efforts of our second biggest member, Cancer Research UK, and a large number of other charities. Among these, the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, a member of AMRC since its inception, has been impressive in taking lab work to the clinic. Charities such as Tenovus and the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust have been tackling the problems of early identification and diagnosis. Breast Cancer Campaign and Breakthrough Breast Cancer steer genetic research towards new treatments, and the Ulster Cancer Foundation tackles how to prevent cancer in men.