Message from the President

03/04/2006

Dear EORTC members,

You will find hereunder updated information on EORTC strategy and achievements during the last few months.

1. Academic Research Fund now finances 4 Trials

As you know the EORTC Board created in 2005 an Academic Research Fund with the aim to provide financial support for academic studies after prioritization by the Board. So far, the Board has already approved financial support for several major trials in various EORTC groups:

1. BREAST CANCER:  EORTC trial 22051-10052, the SUPREMO trial (Selective Use of Postoperative Radiotherapy aftEr MastectOmy), a phase III randomised trial to assess the role of adjuvant chest wall irradiation in ‘intermediate risk’ operable breast cancer following mastectomy.
2. HODGKIN LYMPHOMA: EORTC trial 20051, the H10 EORTC/GELA randomized Intergroup trial on early FDG-PET scan guided treatment adaptation versus standard combined modality treatment in patients with stages I/II Hodgkin's lymphoma.
3. CHILDREN LEUKEMIA: EORTC trial 58051: the INTERFANT 06 International collaborative treatment protocol for infants under one year with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, which is a trial from the Children Leukemia group in cooperation with other national groups.
4. PROSTATE CANCER:  EORTC trial 22043-30041 on Post-operative external RT combined with concomitant and adjuvant hormonal treatment versus post-operative external RT alone in pT3a-b R0-1 N0 / pT2R1N0, Gleason 5-10 prostatic carcinoma.

This represents a total commitment of 552,273 euros.
The fund is operational and it shows the commitment of the EORTC Board to its scientific strategy and to (independent) academic research.

2. Network of Core Institutions (NOCI)

You may remember that the EORTC Board launched in 2005 a new initiative, the Network of Core Institutions, in order to create a critical mass and a network of excellence dedicated to complex clinical trials with translational research components.

A NOCI meeting has been organized in March 2006 in Brussels to discuss such an approach in order to benefit from both significant patients accruals from large academic centers and from laboratory infrastructures available in these institutions for translational research in a win-win situation.

Representatives from all affiliated institutions have been invited to this meeting.

Currently four NOCI projects are under negotiation. It is foreseen to keep the NOCI agenda as a high priority which will be discussed at each EGAM meeting (already scheduled on 7-9 March 2007) as well as at the EORTC-NCI-AACR meeting scheduled in Prague in November 2006.

NOCI projects are the following:

• BASKET trial (Multicenter Parallel Phase II Trial of BI 2536 BS administered as one hour IV infusion every 3 weeks in defined cohorts of patients with various solid tumours)
• Phase II trials of TKI-Dasatinib in various solid tumors
• TEACH study (Thrombo-Embolism And CHemotherapy)
• Molecular profiling: promising tool for the identification of unknown primary tumors

3. A Meeting with Pharmaceutical Industry

A meeting to discuss cooperation and partnership between EORTC and pharmaceutical industry for drug development has been organized in February 2006 with EORTC representatives from NDAC, TRAC, LRD as well as the EORTC Executive Committee.

This was the first meeting organized with all pharmaceutical industry to discuss such cooperation. Indeed, this meeting was very successful and attended by 27 representatives from the pharmaceutical industry.

The NOCI initiative presented to the pharmaceutical industry participants was also a major interest as a unique core network with both accruing power and academic laboratory infrastructures. The EORTC tumor bank was also perceived as important tool, acting as clinical trials related biorepository and working either as a central collection of specimens or as a virtual tissue bank.

The new drug development process within EORTC was also extensively discussed and the increased flexibility of the organization towards the pharmaceutical industry needs was highlighted.

EORTC is therefore in a very good position to further discuss translational research and important clinical trials with pharmaceutical industry thereby acknowledging EORTC as a unique resource to help in refining the knowledge about new drugs.

4. EORTC Programs for Young Oncologists/Scientists

• Young oncologist/scientists in Steering Committees of Groups
  It may be also useful for you to know that the EORTC Board required that a young oncologist would be integrated in the Steering Committee of each EORTC group. This initiative has been already accomplished.
• Special sessions at all big EORTC EVENTS
  Specific sessions will be dedicated to young oncologist/ scientists and NOCI at each EORTC major meetings including EGAM, EORTC-NCI-AACR meetings, etc. The EORTC Board has already allocated substantial financial support for 20 travel grants for those young oncologists/scientists attending those meetings.

5. Continuity Fund Has Reached 7 Million Euro

We have reached our goal of securing 7 million EURO in a continuity fund (to guarantee the continued functioning of the EORTC Data Center and Head Quarters for 1 year in case of no-income).

6. New Board Elections

Finally, I would like to inform you that the new EORTC Board will be elected by the EORTC General Assembly on June 16, 2006. You did receive on March 28, 2006, a separate message in relationship to application for Board elections and procedures.

I take this opportunity to sincerely thank you all of you for your dedication and commitment and for the support to EORTC research during the last three years.

EORTC has succeeded to create several new major initiatives and we look forward to a bright future for this unique organization aiming at the improvement of cancer care for all patients in Europe.

I would like to express my gratitude for your cooperation.

Sincerely yours,
Lex Eggermont