Brussels, 12/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - Ahead of the first World Pancreatic Cancer Day on Thursday 13 November, four MEPs (Françoise Grossetête and Philippe Juvin (France, EPP), Philippe De Backer (ALDE, Belgium) and Daciana Sârbu (Romania, S&D) launched an appeal on Wednesday 12 November for action and mobilisation to tackle this terrible disease. An event has been organised at the European Parliament in Brussels to help explain the reasons for this appeal. This appeal will be sent to the European Commission and then on to different civil society actors to sign it. The MEPs said, “Pancreatic cancer is one of the few cancers which fails to receive political attention and this must change…the EU must adopt urgent action”. They would like to see pancreatic cancer become a priority for European level research, particularly in flagship programmes such as the initiative on innovative medicines and Horizon 2020.
Pancreatic cancer is currently the fourth most deadly form of cancer, with 95% of people dying of the disease. By 2020, it will become the second greatest cause of death from cancer, due to the increasingly frequent rate in which it appears and the lack of effective treatment. The four MEPs launching the appeal would like the respective national data gathering systems to be improved in an effort to help researchers better understand the way this disease appears and develops, so that information can be shared better and new treatments found. Prevention and early diagnosis should also be encouraged and become a priority in the national cancer programmes. This is why they are calling on the European institutions and member states to take immediate efforts to: 1) ensure that pancreatic cancer is included in key European initiatives to fight cancer (Cancer Control Joint Action, Expert Group on Cancer Control and the EU Network for Cancer Registries); 2) ensure that pancreatic cancer is included in national plans for fighting cancer and public information and prevention programmes; 3) encourage the setting up of a multiparty European platform for fighting pancreatic cancer. The MEPs stated, “Cancer does not stop at national borders and patients from across Europe are facing similar problems. These difficulties can often be resolved or at least be influenced by decisions taken at EU level. There is much to be done”. (IL)