Source: European Parliament
The 2022 Council Recommendation on cancer screening[1] states that screen-and-treat strategies for the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, responsible for around 89% of all gastric cancers, should be considered in countries or regions with high gastric cancer incidence and death rates. Such pilot studies are considered necessary before population-based screening programmes can be implemented.
The Commission has been providing funding through the EU4Health Programme to the projects EUROHELICAN[2] and TOGAS[3].
They aim to help policymakers across the EU to incorporate gastric cancer screening into their healthcare priorities and balance effectiveness, feasibility and acceptability with potential adverse long-term effects.
Additionally, through the Joint Action EUCanScreen[4], a pilot study will look into the feasibility of integrating gastric cancer screening into colorectal cancer screening programmes.
The EU4Health-funded project CAN.HEAL[5] is focusing on the implementation of genomics and personalised medicine in clinical practice, including non-invasive screening methods, such as next-generation sequencing and liquid biopsy.
The Horizon Europe[6] EU Mission: ‘Cancer’[7] and the European partnership on Personalised Medicine[8] drive research into the development and uptake of as well as access to screening and early detection technologies in national healthcare systems.
Both initiatives will cooperate with the Joint Action on Personalised Cancer Medicine which is expected to be launched in the second half of 2025.
The latter Joint Action will also build on OncNGS[9], Instand NGS4P[10], and other Horizon Europe-funded collaborative projects, which develop and address uptake of genomics and personalised medicine.
- [1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.C_.2022.473.01.0001.01.ENG
- [2] https://health.ec.europa.eu/non-communicable-diseases/cancer/europes-beating-cancer-plan-eu4health-financed-projects/projects/eurohelican_en
- [3] https://health.ec.europa.eu/non-communicable-diseases/cancer/europes-beating-cancer-plan-eu4health-financed-projects/projects/togas_en
- [4] https://www.dypede.gr/eucanscreen/
- [5] https://health.ec.europa.eu/non-communicable-diseases/cancer/europes-beating-cancer-plan-eu4health-financed-projects/projects/canheal_en
- [6] https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe_en
- [7] 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
- [8] https://www.eppermed.eu/
- [9] https://oncngs.eu/; Focuses on research into affordable solutions to provide next generation sequencing tests for all solid tumours.
- [10] https://www.instandngs4p.eu/