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European Parliament’s initiatives to support the fight against cancer
  1. Stephanie Kohl
  1. Policy & Advocacy, European Association of Hospital Pharmacists, Brussels, Belgium
  1. Correspondence to Ms Stephanie Kohl, Policy & Advocacy, European Association of Hospital Pharmacists, Brussels, Belgium; Stephanie.Kohl{at}eahp.eu

https://doi.org/10.1136/ejhpharm-2020-002475

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    The European Parliament (EP) has released a study that sheds light on the current state-of-play in Europe in respect to cancer. The document titled ‘Strengthening Europe in the fight against cancer – Going further, faster’ was compiled by experts of the European Cancer Organisation. Also, a dedicated cancer committee was set up by the European Parliament.

    The study focuses on four main areas: causation of cancer; cancer screening and early diagnosis; access to cancer treatment, care and research; and rare and childhood cancers. It contains key findings and 45 recommendations which are intended to provide Members of the European Parliament with a strong evidence-based foundation for their scrutiny and suggestions for the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, the EU Cancer Mission and associated initiatives such as the new EU Pharmaceutical Strategy and EU4Health Programme.

    In June also the creation of a Special Committee on Beating Cancer (BECA) was agreed on by the Members of the European Parliament. BECA will be tasked with evaluating different EU actions, identifying legislation and other measures that could be implemented to support the prevention and control of cancer in the EU.

    EUnetHTA’s COVID-19 response

    The European Network for Health Technology Assessment (EUnetHTA) launched its COVID-19-related repository of publications and outputs. The repository gathers publications by EUnetHTA and by Health Technology Assessment (HTA) organisations on testing methods and devices, treatment options, and other public health measures relevant to COVID-19.

    Key contributions by EUnetHTA include ‘Rapid Collaborative Reviews’ for diagnostic testing and ‘Rolling Collaborative Reviews’ for therapeutic treatment. These are evidence-based reports that inform policy, decision-making, and health service planning. Their primary objective is to provide decision-makers with a timely synthesis of available evidence on the comparative effectiveness and safety of health technologies (diagnostic, therapeutic, etc.) for the management of the current pandemic, with continuous updates as research evolves. The first …

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    Footnotes

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.