In 1994, St George’s Hospital launched a fundraising appeal to finance the building of facilities for cancer vaccine research and to allow Professor Dalgleish to do clinical trials for a vaccine in malignant melanoma, which had only been available in the USA. The target – £500,000 – was reached in 1996 and the subsequent research showed great promise, but by 2000 it was clear additional funds were required to continue the work.

The Cancer Vaccine Institute (now ICVI) was launched in 2000 by a group of grateful patients as an independent charity to continue fundraising. Overlooked for many years by major funders, immunotherapy is now becoming a standard treatment for many different types of cancer. We continue our pioneering work and our research and clinical trial work goes from strength to strength each year.