EORTC: The Future of Cancer Therapy

Brussels, 7th October 2022: Last Friday, 30th September, marked the celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the founding of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) at a thought-provoking conference. This event, held in Brussels, brought together EORTC members, partners, patient advocates and many other key stakeholders in cancer research.

In celebration of the EORTC’s achievements, a Gala Dinner was hosted by the EORTC and HRH Princess Dina Mired of Jordan, Honorary President of ECRF*-EORTC, in the presence of HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco (immediate past Honorary President of the ECRF). Over 200 guests joined the celebrations at the Gala dinner on Thursday evening and around 400 people attended the conference on Friday at the Square, Brussels to discuss the past and future of EORTC.

“Cancer kills more than 10 million people every year”; HRH Princess Dina Mired addressed the importance of cancer prevention and control in her welcome address, stating that: “People are what matter at the EORTC. This organisation has understood the need for cancer research to be inclusive of all patients and all types of cancer and has successfully managed to advance research aimed not only at increasing patients’ survival, but also at improving their quality of life”.

EORTC embraces all types of therapeutic options and strives to optimise this for each individual cancer patient. Today, EORTC is active in more than 45 countries and in over 750 cancer institutes and hospitals.

The 60th Anniversary conference provided the opportunity to hear from key experts on how clinical cancer research has evolved over the past 60 years, and what the future should look like for the EORTC. There were discussions with policymakers on how independent clinical research can help shape European policies for optimising access to cancer treatments.

“We are an organisation with breakthrough cancer research, but also with over 40 years’ history of research in the field of quality of life”, Winette van der Graaf, EORTC President, highlighted; adding: “We can embrace the opportunities that EORTC has to offer and build on its achievements to maintain therapeutic progress for all cancer patients”.

“Looking ahead, and true to its mission to advance cancer research for all patients leaving no one behind, EORTC will strive to address an academic agenda of multidisciplinary, clinically relevant questions. The importance of such agenda in the process of treatment development and access has been a key take-home message from the meeting. Furthermore, EORTC is currently exploring how to expand in the Middle East”, Denis Lacombe, EORTC Chief Executive Officer, mentioned in his opening address, adding: “this will allow EORTC to bring what we can to patients in this part of the world as well”.

Collaboration, quality, innovation and ability to look ahead and plan for what is happening in the wider world, is what EORTC will continue to aim for in the decades to come.

* EORTC Cancer Research Fund

The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation, which unites clinical cancer research experts, throughout Europe, to define better treatments for cancer patients to prolong survival and improve quality of life. Spanning from translational to large, prospective, multi-centre, phase III clinical trials that evaluate new therapies and treatment strategies as well as patient quality of life, its activities are coordinated from EORTC Headquarters, a unique international clinical research infrastructure, based in Brussels, Belgium.

For further information, please visit www.eortc.org.

The ECRF is a non-profit association founded in 1976. Its mission is to promote, encourage and support clinical research on the treatment of cancer under the auspices of the EORTC. ECRF is privileged to count HRH Princess Dina Mired as its Honorary President and Count Diego du Monceau de Bergendal as the Chairman of the Fund.

For more information, please visit www.eortcresearchfund.org.