• Our new research units
• Our research projects
• • Understanding the biology of the breast
  • Identifying the causes of breast cancer
  • Understanding gene function
  • Understanding tumour formation
  • Investigating how breast cancers spread
  • Understanding treatments and their side effects
  • • Improving diagnosis
    • Predicting disease outcome
    • Developing new treatments
    • Improving clinical practise
    • Investigating complementary therapies
    • • Complementary Therapy Research - Tackling the Challenges
      • Relieving fatigue experienced by cancer patients
      • Complementary Therapy survey findings
  • Preventing breast cancer
• Our research centre
• Our research strategy
• The Breakthrough Generations Study

In developing our programme we have recognised that there are many challenges in designing complementary therapy research. These include choosing the most appropriate control, designing trials that mirror how complementary therapy is used in practice, and whether traditional clinical trial design such as the Randomised Controlled Trial (which is used to test conventional medicines, can be applied). There are also wider issues that affect whether scientific research in this area is funded, including a lack of funding opportunities and confusion amongst the major scientific research funders on exactly what constitutes well designed and fundable research.

Consulting the Experts

To help Breakthrough develop this programme, it is important to address these challenges through consultation with a broad range of experts. Therefore, in December 2006 we held an expert seminar ‘Complementary Therapy Research – Tackling the Challenges’ to focus on and address some of these important issues and to enable to field to move forward.

Moving On

This seminar enabled us and many health professionals to discuss and address issues such as funding and infrastructure and there was also discussion on how to tackle some of the research design issues. The seminar really helped us to develop this area and we were also very glad that the major funders such as Cancer Research UK, Department of Health and the Medical Research Council were engaging with this issue. Our programme is still in its early stages, as we realise it is very complex area but we look forward to keeping you up to date with this very exciting initiative in the near future.

To read a report of the seminar follow the link below:

Seminar report (256 kb)

           

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