{"entity":{"id":"idea-fund-cachexia-programme","kind":"idea","name":"A dedicated programme for cachexia and treatment toxicity research","aka":[],"tldr":"Wasting and side-effects kill or stop treatment for a large share of patients but attract almost no dedicated funding. This would create a standing programme for them.","summary":"A programme with its own review panel funds cachexia mechanisms (GDF15, inflammatory and neural circuits), interventional trials of anti-cachexia agents and nutrition and exercise bundles, and toxicity science (neuropathy, cardiotoxicity, cytopenias, cognitive effects) with biomarkers and prevention trials. Supportive-care research fails in general panels because it is judged as less innovative; a dedicated pot and reviewers who know the field fixes that. GDF15 antagonists reaching late-phase trials show the biology is tractable.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"Bottleneck evidence (Funding follows fashion, not burden): Carter & Nguyen, A comparison of cancer burden and research spending (BMC Cancer 2012)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2407-12-526"}],"tags":[],"related":["idea-fund-ten-year-hard-problem-awards","idea-exercise-as-adjuvant"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":["exercise-oncology","cardio-oncology","geriatric-assessment","scalp-cooling"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-funding-allocation","b-cachexia-supportive","b-toxicity-qol"],"keyPapers":["paper-sun-bmc-cancer"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"hypothesis":"A dedicated programme at 2% of a national budget doubles registered interventional trials in cachexia and toxicity within five years and yields at least one approved supportive-care agent or validated toxicity-prevention strategy within ten.","rationale":"Cachexia is implicated in up to a third of cancer deaths; the recent progress on GDF15 came from industry, not academia, because academic supportive-care research was starved. Dedicated programmes created fields in palliative care in the UK and in geriatric oncology in France.","test":"Portfolio audit, then launch and compare trial registrations, publications and industry co-investment in the supported area after five years with a matched neglected area.","maturity":"speculative","actor":"philanthropy","cost":"medium","horizonYears":5},"route":"/ideas/idea-fund-cachexia-programme/","neighbours":{"idea":[{"id":"idea-exercise-as-adjuvant","kind":"idea","name":"Structured exercise prescribed like a drug in all curative-intent cancer care","route":"/ideas/idea-exercise-as-adjuvant/"},{"id":"idea-fund-ten-year-hard-problem-awards","kind":"idea","name":"Ten-year awards for scientists who commit to one hard problem","route":"/ideas/idea-fund-ten-year-hard-problem-awards/"}],"technology":[{"id":"cardio-oncology","kind":"technology","name":"Cardio-oncology","route":"/technologies/cardio-oncology/"},{"id":"exercise-oncology","kind":"technology","name":"Exercise & lifestyle oncology","route":"/technologies/exercise-oncology/"},{"id":"geriatric-assessment","kind":"technology","name":"Geriatric assessment","route":"/technologies/geriatric-assessment/"},{"id":"scalp-cooling","kind":"technology","name":"Scalp cooling (cold caps: DigniCap, Paxman)","route":"/technologies/scalp-cooling/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-cachexia-supportive","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Cachexia, toxicity and the limits of the patient","route":"/bottlenecks/b-cachexia-supportive/"},{"id":"b-funding-allocation","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Funding follows fashion, not burden","route":"/bottlenecks/b-funding-allocation/"},{"id":"b-toxicity-qol","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued","route":"/bottlenecks/b-toxicity-qol/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-sun-bmc-cancer","kind":"paper","name":"Benefits of hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy for patients with serosal invasion in gastric cancer: a meta-analysis of the randomized controlled trials","route":"/key-papers/paper-sun-bmc-cancer/"}],"roadmap":[{"id":"survivorship-roadmap","kind":"roadmap","name":"Supportive care and survivorship roadmap: making treatment bearable → proving it extends life → caring for tens of millions afterwards","route":"/roadmaps/survivorship-roadmap/"}]}}