European politicians are discussing a new research program aimed at developing new and more effective therapies to fight cancer, a goal which requires, according to industry experts, a convergence of efforts and an important budget.
The European interest has turned to cancer since the growth rates of this disease are increasing everywhere. Europe has less than 10% of the world population but more than a quarter of the total cases of cancer and according to the World Health Organization every year 1.9 million people are hit on the continent.
As regards the total funding to be allocated to the topic, the budgets dedicated to the various research missions have not yet been defined at European level and, moreover, calculating how much the EU currently spends in relation to the problem of cancer is rather complicated, given that the Expenditures made fall under different budgets. The Commission has specified that under Horizon 2020 it has disbursed 1.2 billion € for 980 projects, to date. And a research mission in this sense would require at least this figure.
Much has been discussed in recent months also in reference to the specific area where to direct the funds: a first proposal of the Commission envisaged focusing on cancer in the pediatric age, while now it is proposing to address the issue at a more general level. However, all the researchers agree that the plan adopted will have to include the sharing of patient data. The importance of having virtual networks that can connect databases, patient registries and biobanks was underlined.