To: Cancer Mission Board and Assembly
European Commission (DG RTD)
European Parliament (ITRE Committee)
10 July 2020, Brussels
Subject: Reflection of European Cancer Leagues and the Anticancer Fund on the interim report of Cancer Mission
Dear Colleagues,
We would like to congratulate you on the publishing of the interim report of the mission board for cancer which comprehensively covers key aspects of cancer prevention and care. However, before publishing of the final report, the Association of European Cancer Leagues [1] (ECL) and the Anticancer Fund [2] would like to draw your attention to the below recommendations, which, if implemented, would contribute to bringing both greater value to cancer patients and larger return on public investment.
In order to deliver a Cancer Mission driven by public health and patients’ needs and by the ultimate objective of bringing maximum value for public investment to European patients and citizens at large, we suggest:
ECL and ACF agree with the aim to advance the methodology of outcomes-based programmes where patient- and society-relevant outcomes are not limited to response rates, but also include quality of life aspects. Nevertheless, with the current level of evidence we do not agree with its ‘uptake’, ‘scaling’ and ‘implementation’ which are so prominently mentioned in the interim report.
We sincerely believe that integration of the above stated objectives in the report will contribute to the development of a Cancer Mission which strives to bring benefit to patients and European society at large.
We remain at your disposal shall you have any questions or remarks.
Yours Sincerely,
___________________________ _________________________________
Dr. Lydie Meheus Dr. Sakari Karjalainen
Director, Anticancer Fund President, European Cancer Leagues
See more regarding the priorities of the Association of European Cancer Leagues (ECL) for Horizon Europe’s Cancer Mission here [3]. In case of any questions, contact Anna Prokupkova, ECL’s Advocacy and Project Manager via Anna(at)europeancancerleagues.org.
See Anticancer Fund’s recommendations for the Cancer Mission here [4]. In case of further query, contact ACF’s Director Dr. Lydie Meheus via Lydie.Meheus(at)anticancerfund.org.
[1] Tannock, I. F. and Hickman J. A., ‘Limits to Personalized Cancer Medicine’, The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 375(13), 2016 – underlined that ‘ There should also be a clear message to patients that personalized cancer medicine has not led to gains in survival or its quality and is an appropriate strategy only within well designed clinical trials.’
[2] Prasad, V. et al., ‘Precision oncology: origins, optimism, and potential’, Lancet Oncology, vol. 17, 2016.
[3] Davis, C. et al., ‘Availability of evidence of benefits on overall survival and quality of life of cancer drugs approved by European Medicines Agency: retrospective cohort study of drug approvals 2009-13’. The BMJ, vol. 356, 2017.
Links:
[1] http://www.cancer.eu/
[2] https://www.anticancerfund.org/
[3] https://www.europeancancerleagues.org/wp-content/uploads/ECL-HEU-Cancer-Mission-Statement-2019.pdf
[4] https://www.anticancerfund.org/en/anticancer-funds-recommendations-horizon-europe
[5] https://www.europeancancerleagues.org/