MEPs want to ‘roll out the red carpet’ for cancer researchers

The European Parliament has sent a strong message to the European Commission and member states that it wants to see a boost to research as part of a broader initiative to step up the fight against cancer.

“Research has to be cross-border research, and we have to roll out the red carpet to these scientists rather than putting obstacles in their way, as we are in some other areas,” said MEP Pieter Liese during a plenary debate leading up to the vote on Parliament’s report earlier this week.

The report is calling for more work to understand the causes of cancer, dedicated funding for rare adult cancers in the Horizon Europe programme, and greater effort to ensure research is translated through to approved therapies.

The European Parliament also wants the Commission to consider launching a new public-private partnership for paediatric cancer research as part of Horizon Europe. There are currently nine health partnerships in Horizon Europe but none specifically tackle cancer.

To bring these objectives to life, MEPs want member states to promote the attractiveness of scientific careers and get more people going into cancer research, by improving the infrastructure and ensuring long-term funding for research centres.

Member states should make stronger commitments to public-private cooperation and increase “by at least 20% the mobilisation of public research on therapeutic, diagnostic and screening cancer innovations,” the report says.

“Research has to be independent, it has to be interdisciplinary and it has to be based in European universities and in the European health data space,” said Véronique Trillet-Lenoir MEP, rapporteur for the file.

Trillet-Lenoir’s report received overwhelming support from MEPs, with 652 voting in favour, 15 against, and 27 abstaining.

The EU, which represents 10% of the world population, registers four out of ten cases globally. There are also stark inequalities between members states in quality of care, with survival rates varying by as much as 20%.

Cancer is a top priority for the current European Commission, which last year launched the Beating Cancer Plan, setting out a common approach to cancer prevention, treatment and care. This has a €4 billion budget for ten initiatives to support policy and innovation in the field.   

There is also a Horizon Europe mission on cancer that launched last year, as one of five key challenges the EU research programme aims to tackle.

The mission’s goal is to improve the lives of more than three million people by 2030, or roughly the number of people diagnosed with cancer in the EU each year. The budget for the first two years is €378.2 million, and it will fund a strategic research agenda for understanding and treating the disease, actions to improve the quality of life of cancer survivors and support for a network of comprehensive cancer infrastructures.

MEPs want the Commission to ensure the two new cancer programmes work in tandem.