We strive to improve patient care by staying at the forefront of groundbreaking new treatments, technologies and techniques to deliver more effective and personalised treatments than ever before.

We do this by delivering high quality cancer research, including in:

  • A continually growing portfolio of research studies led by our consultants and for which we act as Sponsor, including in cancer vaccines
  • A portfolio of National Institute for Health Research studies (Phases II, III)
  • Pharmaceutical commercially sponsored clinical trials (Phases I, II and III)
  • Gene therapy studies
  • Translational research, novel biomarker studies
  • Radiotherapy physics and radiobiological modeling
  • Radiotherapy, systemic therapy and supportive studies
  • Quality of life and survivorship studies
  • Qualitative research

We have a dedicated Early Phase Clinical Trials Unit at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre - Liverpool and partner with other healthcare and academic institutions and organisations in research.

This includes being part of Liverpool Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) with the University of Liverpool; being partners in a Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) with The Royal Marsden, in London; and being part of Liverpool Clinical Research Facility (CRF), which is hosted by Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Advanced Research Practitioner Barbara King has 15 years experience in Clinical Trials. In this video she talks about why research is so important.

"Research gives our patients a choice of new cancer treatments for the future"

How our patients take part in research

The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre is one of the leading cancer research centres in the country – and our patients play a huge role our ability to discover new therapies to treat the disease, design new techniques or find innovative ways to look after those in our care.

Thousands of our patients have taken part in research at Clatterbridge – including on clinical trials – and many of the pioneering studies they have joined have led to therapies becoming standard treatments in the NHS. A clinical trial is where a patient agrees to have an experimental therapy when standard treatments have not worked properly for them. Clinical trials are vital to advance our medical knowledge as we can learn how effective new cancer therapies are.

Clatterbridge is a national leader in clinical trials – some of our cancer studies are world firsts – and we have been awarded a number of prestigious accreditations for the research we do. By taking part in a clinical research trial, patients receive cutting-edge treatment not currently available to the general public, so have the opportunity to help their own condition as well as furthering cancer research for other patients now and in the future.

As is the case with all medical procedures, there is an element of risk, but all Clatterbridge’s clinical trials go through many layers of testing and authorisation by national organisations before they are offered to patients. All clinical trials patients are closely monitored throughout their treatment, and afterwards, to minimise any problems that may arise. Patients are only invited to join a clinical research trial if the medical team believes it can help them – and taking part is completely voluntary. Patients can leave the trial at any time, without the need to give a reason.

For more information about clinical trials at Clatterbridge, watch the video above and click here.


Clinical trials

Liverpool Cancer Research Institute

Innovation Strategy 2023-25

Patient and Public Involvement Forum

Qualitative research

Research Strategy 2021-26

Clinical trials database

Research & Innovation Annual Reports