EORTC AISBL / IVZW Avenue Mounierlaan, 83/11 Brussel 1200 Bruxelles • Belgie Belgique +32 2 774 16 11
Visitors • Investigators • Intranet • Home

EORTC: Aims and mission

The aims of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) are to develop, conduct, coordinate, and stimulate translational and clinical research in Europe to improve the management of cancer and related problems by increasing survival but also patient quality of life. Extensive and comprehensive research in this wide field is often beyond the means of individual European hospitals, and can best be accomplished through the multidisciplinary multinational efforts of basic scientists and clinicians.

Over the past few years, numerous innovative agents have been discovered as a result of tremendous developments in the understanding of the molecular basis of cancer. Further clinical progress in cancer treatment will be accomplished mainly through the conduct of translational research projects, efficient drug development and the execution of large, prospective, randomised, multicenter cancer clinical trials. The EORTC promotes multidisciplinary cancer research in Europe and is linked to other leading biomedical research organisations around the world.

The aim of the EORTC is to facilitate the passage of experimental discoveries into state-of-the-art treatments by keeping to a minimum the time lapse between the discovery of new anti-cancer agents and the implementation of their therapeutic benefit for patients with cancer.

The ultimate goal of the EORTC is to improve the standards of cancer treatment in Europe, through the evaluation of innovative drugs and new regimens, and to establish more effective therapeutic strategies, using drugs already commercially available, or surgery and radiotherapy.

History

The organisation was founded as an international organisation under Belgian law in 1962 by eminent oncologists working in the main cancer research institutes of the EU countries and Switzerland. It was named the Groupe Européen de Chimiothérapie Anticancéreuse (GECA), and became the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) in 1968.

EORTC Presidents