EORTC Background

Although development of new and innovative therapies is critical for improving cancer care, the primary interests of the EORTC remain with clinical trials that investigate strategic therapeutic questions that will influence medical practice or will fundamentally improve the understanding of a disease.

The EORTC has built an important part of its success on the multidisciplinary approach to cancer treatment, and this remains the principal strength of the EORTC. However, the present-day multidisciplinary approach to research into cancers and their treatment in the clinic also encompasses pathologists and laboratory scientists through translational research programmes that must be integrated into clinical trials. Hence translational research is an essential component of the EORTC Scientific Strategy, and it contributes to the ability to distinguish between a ‘simple’ trial and high quality academically driven studies.

Clinical Trials

The EORTC Scientific Strategy is defined by the EORTC Board and encompasses the following types of clinical trials:
• Large phase III academic trials aimed at changing the standard of care;
• Clinical trials with a strong and methodologically sound translational research component;
• Prospective clinico-genomic trials;
• Clinical trials addressing rare tumour types.

For the EORTC Executive Committee to determine the level of importance of each new trial proposal within the global strategy of the EORTC, for the EORTC Board to assign priorities when there is a competitive process for resources and/or funding, and for the EORTC Scientific Audit Committee (SAC) to review the global performance of each EORTC Group, three main trial categories have been defined within the priorities of the EORTC. Category 1A represents the highest priority for EORTC involvement and category 3C the lowest. The categories are defined as follows:

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