Today it is World Cancer Day
04.02.12
World Cancer Day 2012 has been themed ’Together let’s do something’ to ensure that individuals, civil societies take responsibility for reducing the premature deaths from cancer and other NCDs by 25% by 2025.
According to WHO:
- Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, causing 7.6 million deaths in 2008, although it is estimated that a third of these deaths could have been avoidable with greater prevention, early detection and existing treatments.
- For every 100 people who get cancer, over 30 cases could have been prevented by healthy lifestyle or by immunisation against cancer causing infections.
- It is estimated that by 2030 there will be 12 million cancer deaths worldwide.
- In Europe, 1 in 3 Europeans is diagnosed with cancer and the disease kills 1 in 4 people. Every family in Europe is touched in some way by this devastating disease. Cancer is the second most common cause of death after cardiovascular disease.
The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) Europe’s largest public-private initiative, jointly-funded by EFPIA and the European Commission, which operates to speed up the development of better and safer medicines for patients, is strongly committed to tackle cancer.
IMI supports collaborative research projects in disease areas, like cancer that affects millions of Europeans.
Some IMI projects and achievements, focusing on cancer research, are listed below:
Marcar
The Marcar project has developed and proved the effectiveness of a method that helps identify chemical changes in the genetic material (chromosomes) that are related to cancer (non-genotoxic carcinogenesis). The detection of these so-called epi-genetic changes can be used as early biological indicators (biomarkers) to predict if drugs in development are likely to cause unwanted effects (cancer) in patients. The findings will therefore contribute to a better assessment of the safety of candidate-drugs.
Project website: www.imi-marcar.eu
OncoTrack
The OncoTrack project is focusing on its goal of identifying biological markers that will help our understanding of the variable composition of tumors and the relationship between biological heterogeneity and tumor variation in response to treatment.
In particular, biomarkers for cancer of the colon will be analysed through the development and application of research techniques with unprecedented high sensitivity levels.
Project website: www.oncotrack.eu
Predect
The Predect project will permit the emergence of faithful models for target validation and beyond. PREDECT aims to produce results which will shift paradigms in target validation and so leading to greater predictivity of drug efficacy in drug trials.
It will develop novel, advanced, complex in vitro and in vivo models for breast, prostate and lung cancers.
Project website: www.predect.eu
QuIC-ConCePT
The QuIC-ConCePT project aims to deliver a significant contribution to progress in standardization and qualification of Imaging Biomarkers (IBs) for use in oncology drug development.
The objective is to provide tools to the drug developers to reliably demonstrate the modulation of key pathologic processes in tumours in patients in realistic trials.
Looking further into the future, therapies for, and biomarkers of, the processes of invasion and metastasis will be of increasing importance, because in most cases it is metastasis, not the primary tumour, which kills the patient.
As Cornelis van de Velde, President of The European CanCer Organisation (ECCO) says:
“The theme of this year’s World Cancer Day on 04 February, ‘Together we can beat cancer’ is intrinsic to our work. The sheer complexity of cancer means that by speaking with one voice, we can help all stakeholders grasp the immense implications and major challenges facing oncology professionals and specialists in treating increasingly ageing and complex patient populations in which every individual deserves the best”
More information on IMI can be found at: www.imi-europa.eu
For further information on World Cancer Day, click here.
For further information on the impact on cancer worldwide, visit WHO’s cancer section.
