New European consortium on cancer launched

A new consortium on cancer has been launched in Europe with the aim of coordinating research and innovation to improve outcomes for patients.

Establishing of Cancer Mission Hubs: Networks and Synergies (ECHoS) is a three-year European consortium, which brings together leading experts from more than 50 governmental, healthcare, academic and nonprofit organisations in 28 countries.

Ireland is represented within ECHoS by the HSE National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) as the primary national lead and the All-Island Cancer Research Institute (AICRI) as co-participant.

Both the NCCP and AICRI will collaborate closely with the consortium’s coordinators and leading experts across Europe in order to establish a National Cancer Mission Hub in Ireland.

National Cancer Mission Hubs will be created in each country to engage a broad range of stakeholders from both public and private sectors in collaborative initiatives and policy dialogues on cancer at national, regional and local levels.

“Creating a National Cancer Mission Hub in Ireland represents a key step towards strengthening the voice of national stakeholders in cancer policies in Europe. It will foster national and international collaboration, promote inclusivity and drive innovation in cancer care. Therefore we expect ECHoS to contribute to accelerating cancer research in our country,” explained AICRI co-lead, Prof William Gallagher, of University College Dublin.

He described this as “an opportunity to tailor our cancer landscape to the precise needs of our patients and society”.

“The AICRI has made significant progress towards establishing an overarching framework for cancer research across the island of Ireland, with the ECHoS project providing an ideal opportunity to work closely with the NCCP to establish the National Cancer Mission Hub in Ireland, and interact with other colleagues around Europe to advance better integration of cancer research and policy,” he said.

According to the European Cancer Information System, by 2040, the incidence of cancer in Europe is expected to increase by over 20% while mortality will increase by over 30%. This means that if no further actions are taken, around 3.24 million people will be diagnosed and 1.66 million people will die in Europe.

The new consortium is supported by the Mission on Cancer. For more information on this, click here.