The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) (Belgium)

The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) is Europe’s leading multidisciplinary clinical cancer research organisation whose work spans cancers, treatment types and national borders. For more than 60 years, its mission has been to coordinate and conduct international translational and clinical research to improve the standard of cancer treatment for patients, improving their survival and quality of life. 

EORTC is the coordinator of the DE-ESCALATE research project and the legal sponsor of the associated clinical trial. The study will be supported by EORTC infrastructure and network. Patient representatives will contribute to the clinical trial since study conceptualisation.

Syreon Research Institute is an independent research institute, providing expert services since 2008 in the fields of evidence synthesis, health economics, health policy, health technology assessment (HTA) and public health. It aims to apply scientific evidence and health economic knowledge in practice to maximise health gain for the society.

As part of DE-ESCALATE, Syreon will conduct economic evaluations in different countries and will develop and coordinate a communication and dissemination strategy for the three projects. The results generated, if positive, should inform guideline developers, policymakers, and healthcare payers about the importance of giving access to investigational technologies for different types of cancers. Our team will also develop educational materials about key project methods and achievements.

SOGUG (Spanish Oncology GenitoUrinary Group) is a spanish non-profit organization dedicated to the treatment and study of genitourinary cancers: prostate cancer, bladder cancer and kidney cancer. It was founded in 1998 and nowadays it has more than 500 members, mostly GU medical oncologists.

SOGUG’s mission is promoting the development of research and educational programmes in the field of genitourinary tumours, and also to provide information and support to patients with these pathologies and to raise awareness in our society.

In this project, SOGUG will collaborate with the EORTC in the coordination of the participating sites in Spain. SOGUG will provide support to the sponsor and also to the Spanish investigators involved in the study to ensure it runs smoothly and meets its objectives, with the cooperation of the rest of European partners.

Cancer Trials Ireland is Ireland’s national organisation dedicated to advancing cancer clinical trials. Our vision is to maximise cancer trial access and outcomes to prolong patient lives and expand cancer research in Ireland. Our mission is to be an indispensable all-Ireland hub for cancer trials, globally recognised for excellence in governance, collaboration and innovation in clinical research. Since 2000, 623 cancer trials have opened in Ireland, with more than 33,500 patients taking part. In 2022, a survey of public attitudes revealed three in five people in Ireland would take part in a clinical trial. Cancer Trials Ireland is a registered charity funded by grants, study income and philanthropic donations from members of the public.

 Cancer Trials Ireland will be the coordinating group for DE-ESCALATE in Ireland, overseeing management of sites and participant accrual.

Unicancer is a non-profit organisation. Through its health cooperation group, Unicancer is a national hospital network specialised exclusively in oncology. It brings together 18 French Comprehensive Cancer Centres and 2 affiliated members, all offering a public service and playing a major role in healthcare and research in France. Unicancer is also the local representative of the EORTC in France since 2009. This collaboration aims to facilitate the activation of EORTC-sponsored trials in France and to stimulate the participation of French investigative centres. 

For this project, Unicancer will rely on its GETUG investigators network. Created in 1994, GETUG includes medical oncologists, radiation therapists, urologists, and anatomopathologists, working on urogenital cancers. Unicancer will also be involved in the analysis and interpretation of clinical data and cost-effectiveness modeling.

Europa Uomo, the European Prostate Cancer Coalition, is the European umbrella organization of prostate cancer patient support groups in Europe. As a group, we represent the patients with prostate cancer at the European level and provide support to our member organizations. As such we provide education and training to our members through master classes and a Summer School and we participate in European research projects bringing the patient voice into the core of the projects.

In the DE-ESCALATE project Europa Uomo will bring the patient voice of the European patients with prostate cancer. We will work in close collaboration with work package leaders to co-design patient facing documents and to make sure that the quality of life capture is in agreement with our preferences and wishes. The project is of very high importance to us as patients, as the studied treatment has a negative impact on quality of life and any measures that would safeguard QoL and would result from the studie would be very welcome.