CAREFOR Calls On EU to Safeguard Independent Academic Research

LUGANO, Switzerland and BRUSSELS, August 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Three leading European organisations in the fight against cancer have called the EU to urgently increase support for independent academic research for the benefit of cancer patients, in an article in ESMO Open [http://esmoopen.bmj.com/content/2/3/e000187 ].

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"Independent academic research is endangered for lack of funds and adequate legislation," said Rolf Stahel, ESMO Past-President, CAREFOR co-founder. "Working closely with EU institutions, we can make sure Europe is equipped with efficient legal framework and a vision to become the best place for research and innovation, for the ultimate benefit of cancer patients," he stated.

The main areas that would benefit from academic research are personalised medicine, patient-centred innovation and rare cancers.

"Key issues that we are calling EU institutions to address include: appropriate implementation of the Clinical Trials and Data Protection Regulations; the need for funding for independent research; the need to foster academic collaborative environments," explained Stahel. "We are also calling for a common EU database to track all clinical trials in Europe."

Other critical issues addressed in the CAREFOR paper include: affordability of cancer care; need for independent, collaborative, quality biobanks; acceptance of new methodologies for evidence generation and evaluation, use and protection of electronic patient data.

"Academic and independent research helps to save time, lower costs, accelerate commercial drug development and improve access for patients," concludes Stahel.

CAREFOR (Clinical Academic Cancer Research Forum) is a joint initiative by the EACR [http://www.eacr.org], the EORTC [http://www.eortc.org] and ESMO [http://www.esmo.org ].

Full story: http://bit.ly/2uWpsgL

ESMO is the leading professional organisation for medical oncology, with 16,000 members representing oncology professionals from over 130 countries worldwide.

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