Government to fund UK cancer research through AI

The government has announced £82.6 million in research funding to support UK companies tackling cancer and accelerating drug discovery using AI.

Three projects will benefit from this support, two of which will use AI to develop treatments and diagnostics for diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease.

Wes Streeting, health secretary, said: “This new funding is another step to unlock the enormous potential of AI for cancer research and drug discovery – ensuring more patients like me experience the highest quality care.

“AI will help us speed up diagnoses, cut waiting times for patients and free up staff, as we deliver our Plan for Change and shift the NHS from analogue to digital.”

A total of £37.9m is being put into three innovative British research projects, the Research Ventures Catalyst (RVC) programme by the government, as well a further £44.7m in co-investment across the three projects from other sources, taking the total funding to £82.6m.

The RVC programme will support pioneering work training AI on the NHS’s vast pool of cancer data, drug discovery research, and more.

Another project being supported is PharosAI, which is receiving £18.9m in government funding plus £24.7m co-investment.

The joint venture between King’s College London, Queen Mary University of London, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, and Barts Health NHS Trust will bring together decades of NHS and biobank data and host it on a unified, secure AI platform. They will draw from the KHP Cancer Biobank and the Breast Cancer Now Biobank.

This will transform cancer care by accelerating the development of the next generation of AI models which will deliver new breakthroughs for diagnosing and treating the disease.

Bind Research is also being supported, with £12.9m government funding and £12.9m in co-investment, which will be used to tap into AI to learn the rules of drugging currently undruggable proteins, offering hope to cure diseases that were once thought to be untreatable.

It will do this by targeting disordered proteins associated with various diseases which could unlock scores of new avenues for treatment.

Peter Kyle, science and technology secretary, said: “We’ve already set out a bold new blueprint for AI which will help to spark a decade of national renewal, and key to that plan is supporting our expert researchers and businesses with the support they need to drive forward their game-changing innovations.

“Today, we open new avenues for them to do exactly that – building bridges with our international partners so the entire global community can share in the boundless opportunities of AI-powered progress and backing new innovative companies applying AI to tackle real-world challenges.”

The announcement follows the launch of the government’s AI Action Plan on 14 January 2025, which prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said would “make our country an AI superpower”.

Meanwhile, Simon Rasalingham, chief executive of Behold.ai, which entered administration in January 2025 after failing to win any contracts under the government’s AI Diagnostic Fund, requested an inquiry into proceedings, arguing that firms from overseas had benefitted and that taxpayers’ money is being used to compete against British AI companies.