EORTC supports World Cancer Day 2015

Cancer knows no boundaries. It has, or will, affect us all, directly or indirectly, during our lifetime. In the face of this disease and its consequences, World Cancer Day was organized to raise awareness of the disease and press governments and individuals across the world to take action.

Tremendous progress has been made in the last 50 years with significant increases in survival. New breakthroughs in molecular biology are allowing us to progress further and target treatments according to the characteristics of tumors. The EORTC, too, has launched a major research program, SPECTA (Screening Patients for Efficient Clinical Trial Access), with the aim of further developing personalized medicines.

Wednesday, 04 February 2015 marks World Cancer Day 2015, and on this day the EORTC, with its long history of improving treatments for patients with cancer, joins the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), its members, partners, supporters and the entire world in the fight against the global cancer epidemic and promoting cancer awareness.

The EORTC is committed to improving treatments for patients with cancer and improving the quality of life for cancer patients and also, importantly, cancer survivors. In this spirit, the EORTC has organized:

• A session at European Business Summit 2015, 06-07 May 2015 in Brussels, to address Cancer and Employment. Here, Marianne Thyssen, EU Commissioner of Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labor Mobility will present a keynote lecture.
• Innovation and Biomarkers in Cancer Drug Development, IBCD 2015, a first of its kind joint meeting by the EORTC, along with the US National Cancer Institute, the European Medicines Agency, and the American Association for Cancer Research on 3-4 December 2015 at the Square Brussels Meeting Centre. IBCD will shine a spotlight on multi-stakeholder approaches to cancer drug development with new cancer biomarkers in a scientific program which will include input from regulators, industry, and academia.
• 2^nd EORTC Cancer Survivorship Summit, 31 March – 01 April 2016 in Brussels, because we need to address not just problems such as late toxicity and secondary tumors, generally viewed as the domain of medical professionals, but also the wide variety of societally significant issues related to jobs, life insurance, mortgages, etc.

These EORTC events are essential in forging the required partnerships to bring about improvements for all of us, those affected by the impact of cancer. Cancer can have a serious impact on a person’s emotional, physical and mental state and cancer survivors are at risk of diminished quality of life for many years following their diagnosis. The EORTC is committed not just to improving treatments, but also to addressing the myriad problems facing cancer patients and cancer survivors in their daily lives.

John Bean, PhD
EORTC, Medical Science Writer