A Survey of Public Funding of Cancer Research in the European Union

I n 2002 cancer accounted for 16.7% of the total burden of disease in the European Union (EU), compared with 25.3% and 17.1% for mental health and cardiovascular diseases, respectively [1]. In the period relevant to this Policy Forum, cancer was the second largest cause of mortality in the EU, accounting for 27.08% of all deaths. With the ageing population and the continuing impact of tobacco-associated cancers, it is predicted that cancer rates could increase by 50% to 15 million new cases worldwide in the year 2020 [1]. A recent update of cancer incidence and mortality for the EU in 2004 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer estimated 2,886,800 incident cases of cancer diagnosed and 1,711,000 cancer deaths [2]. As the authors of the update note, " the ageing of the European population will cause these numbers to continue to increase even if age-specifi c rates remain constant. " Furthermore, despite substantial progress through public health measures (i.e., tobacco control) and new treatments, survival is still poor for many cancers, such as lung cancer. These fi gures speak for themselves in making the case for a substantial and sustained European approach to cancer through public health measures and research. Europe needs both a strong commercial and a publicly funded (noncommercial) research base. In this article, we report the results of the European Cancer Research Funding Survey, which looked at noncommercial, public funding of cancer research. This survey has, for the fi rst time, recognised the essential contribution that governments, charities, and European organisations make towards funding the broad church of research to fi nd new ways to control and cure cancer. This funding, focused on the needs of patients with cancer rather than the commercial or economic advantage, is essential to deliver the myriad of solutions that cancer demands, from new strategies to prevent cancer, to therapies and improvements in patients' quality of life. The public support of cancer research permits the necessary degree of variety and fl exibility that is essential to preserving the diversity of cancer research [3]. This diversity in turn keeps the research possibilities suffi ciently open to ensure that no good idea or discovery is lost. In order to support better evidence-based policy making in this important area, we undertook a pan-EU survey of the major public funders of cancer research. Between July and December 2003, we sent letters to each of the …