Answer given by Ms Zaharieva on behalf of the European Commission
23.6.2025
1. The Commission is fully committed to improving health outcomes for cancer patients through innovative therapies[1]. Under the EU4Health programme, the Joint Action on Personalised Cancer Medicine[2] will address the effectiveness of therapies. The European Cancer Information System[3] provides relevant data.
2. For primary use, the European Health Data Space will ensure citizens’ right to access and control their health data in an electronic format, and for secondary use, it will facilitate the access for research, innovation and policy making, contributing to optimise treatment and improve delivery of care.
3. The Horizon Europe[4] Cancer Mission[5] supports pragmatic clinical trials to test the effectiveness of therapies, including on surgery-centred technologies[6]. The Euratom Research and Training Programme[7] addresses research in the medical applications of ionising radiation, notably novel uses of radionuclides for the screening and treatment of cancer.
- [1] For example, through Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Regulation (EU) 2021/2282, applicable since January 2025, which includes assessment of new cancer treatments, and the CAN.HEAL project developed common protocols to assess effectiveness of new cancer technologies.
- [2] https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/eu4h-2024-pj-03-4.
- [3] ECIS https://ecis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/; ECIS provides comparable statistical indicators and trends of cancer incidence, prevalence, mortality, and survival to monitor outcomes.
- [4] https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe_en.
- [5] https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe/eu-missions-horizon-europe/eu-mission-cancer_en.
- [6] E.g. HORIZON-MISS-2025-02-CANCER-03, HORIZON-MISS-2025-02-CANCER-04; https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/how-to-participate/reference-documents;programCode=HORIZON?programmePeriod=2021-2027&frameworkProgramme=43108390.
- [7] Council Regulation (Euratom) 2021/765 of 10 May 2021 establishing the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community for the period 2021-2025 complementing Horizon Europe — the framework Programme for Research and Innovation and repealing Regulation (Euratom) 2018/1563 (OJ 167I, 12.5.2021, p. 81, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/765/oj).