Press Release

27th of March 2006

Princess Astrid of Belgium visits the headquarters of the EORTC

H.R.H. Princess Astrid of Belgium took part in the annual Assembly and the Council meeting of the Foundation of the EORTC (European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer) at the EORTC’s headquarters in Brussels on the 27th of March.

In her capacity as Honorary President of the EORTC Foundation, Princess Astrid actively supports European academic clinical cancer research conducted by the EORTC .  

The EORTC is a unique research organisation established in 1962 as an international association under Belgian law.

The EORTC was a pioneer in promoting multidisciplinary cancer research and paneuropean collaboration.

The aims of the EORTC are to develop, conduct, coordinate, and stimulate laboratory and clinical research in Europe in order to improve the management of cancer by increasing patient survival and improving patients’ quality of life. As extensive and comprehensive research in this field is very often beyond the means of individual laboratories and hospitals, it is best accomplished through the kind of multidisciplinary, multinational efforts of basic research scientists and clinicians the EORTC is devoted to.

EORTC seeks to facilitate the passage of experimental discoveries into state-of-the art treatment by reducing to a minimum the time lapse between the discovery of new anti-cancer agents and their implementation into clinical practice to the benefit of cancer patients. Besides the evaluation of innovative drugs, EORTC focuses on academic clinical research, that is the establishment of more effective therapeutic strategies by using drugs already commercially available, or surgery and radiotherapy.

EORTC currently links a network of more than 2,500 pre-clinical scientists and oncologists from 32 countries. It encompasses all aspects of cancer research, from laboratory/translational research and drug development to large phase III clinical trials. Around 100 protocols are permanently open to recruitment and every year more than 5,500 new patients – including more than 500 patients from Belgium - are treated in EORTC clinical protocols.

All EORTC studies are conducted at the EORTC headquarters based in Brussels, comprising more than 130 staff members (15 nationalities).

Alongside its own scientific and clinical programme the EORTC collaborates with a number of international organisations, including the US National Cancer Institute (NCI), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US Office for Human Research Protection (OHRP) of the National Institutes of Health, the European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMEA) and many other national and international research groups worldwide.

Funding of EORTC research is provided by the EORTC Foundation through several national cancer leagues, the "Fonds Cancer", corporate sponsorship and private donations, the Belgian National Lottery, the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office and, for specific research projects such as a European Tumor Bank, the European Commission.

For further information concerning the EORTC please contact:

Nicole Heine                                                or
Communications Officer
EORTC
Avenue E. Mounierlaan 83/11
1200 Brussels
Phone : +32 2 774 1651
Fax.     +32 2772 62 33
Email : nicole.heine( at )eortc.be

Francoise Meunier
Director General
EORTC
Avenue E. Mounierlaan 83/11
1200 Brussels
Phone : +32 2 774 1630
Fax.     +32 2 772  2004
Email : francoise.meunier( at )eortc.be

For further information concerning the EORTC Foundation please contact:

Victoria Agnew
Executive Secretary
EORTC Foundation
43 Old Bond Street
GB London W1S 4BA
United Kingdom
Tel.: +44  20 74951785
Fax:  +44 20 74956923
Email: eortcfoundation( at )btinternet.com