About us
- Organization name : European Cancer Patient Coalition Aisbl
- Country: Belgium (Brussels)
- Intervention zone: Europe
- Creation date: 2003
- Status: non-profit organisation
- Staff: 14
- Annual budget: turnover 1.3 mil EUR.
- Breakdown of the revenue:
➔ Industry: 73.4%
➔ EU funded projects: 22.3%
➔ Non-pharma grants and fundraising: 4.3%
Our vision
- With 450 members, ECPC is the main voice of the cancer patients in Europe, advocating to ensure that patients across Europe have timely and affordable access to the best treatment and care available.
- ECPC strategy is based on 5 strategic pillars:
➔ Governance, to build a sustainable model for governance and cooperation with our members.
➔ Policy and advocacy, to empower our members to participate in decisionmaking process and to reduce disparities associated with cancer.
➔ Health and research, to be at the forefront of scientific developments in cancer treatment and increase the role of patients in cancer research.
➔ Capacity building to empower members to shape national cancer policy.
➔ Communication, to raise awareness on main challenges faced by patients.
Visit our website: www.ecpc.org
Our contribution
- At ECPC, we have been working on several campaigns and initiatives to improve the life of cancer patients, such as:
➔ The Cancer Related Complications and Comorbidities: A statement that calls EU policymakers to make cancer complications and comorbidities a priority in the EU Cancer Plan with a particular focus on cancer survivors and their quality of life.
➔ The Right to be Forgotten: The aim of the initiative is to conduct a legal research project assessing and monitoring the discrimination that cancer survivors face in attempts to obtain a mortgage, loans and life insurances, and other financial services.
➔ Personalised medicine: In November 2021, the European Cancer Patient Coalition celebrated Personalized Medicine Awareness Month, promoting the importance of access to molecular testing for cancer through an awareness campaign entitled “Cracking the Cancer Code”. On this occasion, ECPC introduced a toolkit and brochure translated in several languages to respond to the needs of cancer patients in Europe.
➔ European Parliament Challenge Cancer Intergroup, Since July 2020, we coordinate the secretariat of the EU Parliamentary Intergroup on cancer, a forum with 36 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from all political parties to engage in dialogue with patients, cancer survivors, caregivers, scientifi c and medical societies
Our areas of intervention
- ECPC plays an essential role in Europe by effectively acting as the voice of cancer patients and is committed to representing patients’ interests and proposing patient-centric solutions.
- The coronavirus pandemic has severely disrupted cancer care, revealed weaknesses of health systems, and it will have a significant impact on new cancer diagnosis in the following years. ECPC has been strongly committed to provide its members and the cancer community with updated information on the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic and on the vaccines to ensure that cancer patients are protected.
- One year after the launch of the consultation period for Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, the plan was launched. The “Challenge Cancer” Parliamentary Intergroup on Cancer strengthened its presence and action, and several events were organised and endorsed with the support of ECPC which is managing the secretariat of the Intergroup. ECPC will continue to engage with the oncology community for implementation of the Cancer Mission and the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.
- ECPC has been working on other European Union funded projects, 8 Horizon 2020 projects (DIAdIC, H2020MM04 DENIM, ImmunoSABR, LEGACy, PalliativeSedation, LifeChamps, QUALITOP, Instand-NGS4P), 3 Innovative Medicine Initiative (IMI) projects (BD4BO PIONEER, Immune-Image, PREFER), and 5 new projects were approved (INTERVENE, TIGER, T2EVOLVE, OPTIMA, RAPTOR).
- Besides this, the “Right to be Forgotten”, building on the success of the relevant laws in France, Belgium, Portugal and Luxemburg fostered the implementation of the law in The Netherlands.
- Each year we carry out a series of awareness campaigns and we also support our partners, member organisations and stakeholders in their campaigns. During 2021 we have organized more than 15 online events to promote or raise awareness on several cancer-related issues.
- Moreover, ECPC has been involved in Working Parties and Committees of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), in TRANSCAN II, ECIBC-European Commission Initiative for Breast Cancer, Innovative Partnership for Action Against Cancer (iPAAC) and on the EURACAN – European Reference Networks (ERNs).
- Innovative approaches to cancer treatment, diagnostic methods, introduction of big data and artificial intelligence to the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of cancer, are at the centre of most new project proposals submitted last year. In
2022, ECPC will continue working towards this vision by influencing the European political agenda, empowering and educating its members, and increasing the role of patients in cancer research