Cancer is the second leading cause of death in Europe with an expected increase of about 25% by 2035. A wide and unacceptable variability in terms of access to research, innovation and quality care exists between and within countries. Possible solutions are an increase in knowledge by funding research, and a more equitable transfer of what we already know to everyone. Comprehensive Cancer Centers and Comprehensive Cancer Care Networks may be the core of CCIs that deliver quality care and provide resources to improve and integrate care, research and education. Data already available confirm that the level of "CCI maturity" in Member States is widely different, from some countries lacking CCIs completely. A European initiative, implemented in all Member States, based on a capacity building programme (CBP), will help reduce inequalities, in the context of other actions ongoing, such as CRANE, JANE and UNCAN. CBP is a complex intervention that requires multiple and integrated actions delivered to all the relevant stakeholders. CBP will be designed with an inclusive approach, tailored to the baseline status, capable of creating a change and improvement in research and care, with greater integration between them, supported by an education programme. It will operate at various levels: Individuals, Institutions and Systems. The CSA will implement the following steps: define CCI Maturity Model including quality indicators; profile the CCIs in each MS and a few ACs in terms of CCI presence and levels of maturity; design tailored CBP interventions, giving priority to MSs without any CCI; deliver online training courses open to teams in all MSs and ACs, implement targeted onsite interventions; scale up and sustain development; disseminate, exploit and report results. The CSA will maximize impact by bridging with the work of ongoing EU cancer research projects. National focal points will be key informants in making the links between the CSA, the EC and MSs.

EUonQoL aims to develop, pilot and validate the EUonQoL-Kit, a patient-driven, unified system for the assessment of quality of life (QoL) based on evaluations and preferences of cancer patients and survivors. The EUonQoL-Kit will be developed from a patient perspective, administered digitally, available in the EU27 and Associated countries languages, and applicable in future, periodic surveys to contribute to the EU’s mission on cancer. At the core of the EUonQoL there is the adoption of a multistakeholder, co-design methodology, engaging patient representatives, healthcare professionals, administrators, policymakers, and citizens in all project related activities. Existing QoL tools will be reviewed, scoping all relevant sources. This review will be used in the context of the codesign consensus with stakeholders’ and patients’ preferences to identify gaps and establish all QoL dimensions that are relevant from the perspectives of patients, clinicians, and society. A multidisciplinary researcher panel, composed by the most talented experts, will develop the EUonQoL-Kit that will be validated in a pilot survey using digital data collection within month 24 of the project. A total of 4,000 cancer patients and survivors will be enrolled through a network of EU cancer centers. An analysis of factors potentially impacting on cancer patients and survivors QoL, will also be performed. Implementation and exploitation strategies, as well as the linkage with other Cancer Mission projects and actions will be explored to develop future periodic surveys. EUonQoL is composed by research institutions, cancer centers, as well as scientific, professional, and patient representative organizations involved in cancer research, all with extensive experience and robust scientific background in the development of self-report QoL measures.This partnership fuels the ambition of EUonQoL to translate QoL information into future changes in cancer care policy and clinical practice.

The 15-month coordination and support action “4.UNCAN.eu” will generate a strategic agenda to launch UNCAN.eu, a European initiative to UNderstand CANcer proposed by the Mission Board and the European Beating Cancer Plan. This research agenda will be built with the final aim of achieving a new breakthrough in cancer prevention and treatment that will contribute to saving European citizens’ lives and help ensuring an optimal quality of life to disease survivors. To reach a new level of understanding, UNCAN.eu will take advantage of recent advances in research data generation and data sciences. Reliable, high-quality cancer research data generated by experimental model analysis and collected from longitudinal follow-up of cancer patients will be shared and integrated at an unprecedented scale within a Federated Cancer Research data hub, in the context of the General Data Protection Regulation. This information will be used by relevant players in Europe and beyond to address urgent and essential scientific and medical challenges in cancer prevention, early diagnosis, treatment and survivorship, in males and females of various ages. These challenges, identified in close interaction with European patients and citizens, will be tackled through competitive, ambitious and innovative, cross-border and trans-disciplinary research programmes built in a problem-solving manner. The definition of challenges will integrate inequalities in cancer research across regions and member states in order to boost the research potential of less-developed regions in Europe. Players will be committed to open science principles, including FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) guiding principles for scientific data collection, management and stewardship. The new understanding gained from the collection and analysis of this wealth of data will apply secondarily to other diseases.

Instand-NGS4P is a 65-month PCP project federating 7 leading medical centers (two are coordinating ERNs) as buyers’ group with major experience in using different NGS platforms in research and routine diagnostics. The consortium is further strengthened by European patient advocacy groups, a standardization organization and partners participating in the European infrastructures BBMRI-ERIC, ELIXIR as well as several NGS-related EU programs to cover all technical aspects and transversal needs & requirements. Driven by patient and clinical needs, innovative NGS workflows from sample-pre-analytics to medical decision making will be developed. The modular design of the workflow will particularly enable SEMs to contribute, and provides flexibility to adopt emerging user needs and technologies. Specifications will address regulatory requirements for IVDs and refer to international standards and requests development of reference materials and implementation of EQA schemes covering the whole workflow. R&D suppliers will be selected based on a public tender all along this PCP process in 3 phases according to the best-value for money solution. The 3 phases foresee the leverage of 4 technical modules (pre-analytics, sequencing, bioinformatics, e-reporting/e-medication) and their standardized interfaces – from design (Phase 1) to prototypes (Phase 2), and full integration in Phase 3. At the end, this PCP will provide 2 fully integrated, standardized NGS workflows for routine diagnostics of common and rare cancers from adults to children. In order to enable broad implementation in healthcare systems throughout Europe and beyond and to increase benefit to patients a series of support activities are planned including communication and dissemination activities targeting a broad stakeholder community, development of training and education material for healthcare professionals and patients, health economic assessment and engagement with healthcare payers and policy makers.