Launch of second European Cancer Research Funding survey
Sep 18, 2007 - 4:00:00 AM
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He continued by making a special plea to those EU countries which lag behind the 15 Member States which carry out the majority of the research.
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By European Cancer Research Managers Forum,
[RxPG] Brussels: The second European survey [1] analysing how cancer research is funded shows that contrary to public perception Europe is a major contributor to the global cancer research effort.
Prof Richard Sullivan, chair of the European Cancer Research Managers Forum (ECRM), launched the organisation�s second survey, which looks at the overall �3.2 billion cancer research spend for 2004, at the European Parliament today (Tuesday 18 September).
�Contrary to public perception, a phenomenal amount of cancer research is carried out in Europe, evidenced by the huge amount of cancer research papers being published here,� said Prof Sullivan. �This is important, as many policy makers assume the global funding for cancer research is overwhelmingly concentrated in the USA. Our data indicate that this is not true and the effort is a truly global one. The possibilities for fruitful partnerships not only exist, but should be the basis for future long-term policy. We should not fail next generations in losing this opportunity.�
He stressed that with over 100 major funders in both Europe and the USA, who each spend more than �1 million a year on cancer research, as well as a number of important representational bodies, there has never been such a golden opportunity for a more co-operative approach in the field, particularly towards the funding of trans-national research programmes.
Prof Sullivan added that whilst global levels of cancer research expenditure on cancer research as a percentage of GDP continue to show differences between the USA and Europe, this gap has substantially narrowed.
�A major part of this survey has been its ability to estimate the cancer research funding flowing through national healthcare and university systems in Europe, but there has also been a real increase in some Member State funding whilst the USA shrinks in real terms.�
However Prof Sullivan made an urgent plea for less bureaucracy which he says is stifling cancer research. �The impact of regulatory policy on research funding and productivity remains, as it was for the first survey, a critical issue for all countries.
�Over the last decade the fashion for ever increasing regulation across all domains � clinical trials, healthcare data, human tissue � has led to an undesirable increase in the unit cost of research in the absence of any tangible social benefit from many of these regulations.
�Good research governance is essential but bureaucracy is absorbing too much of the global investment in cancer research. Bureaucracy and over-management remain constant dangers to progress. Funding organisations and government policy makers must guard against these dangers and, where necessary, simplify and harmonise.
�Since the first survey published two years ago, nearly 60% of Member States have increased their funding of cancer research in real terms, yet 30% have not,� said Prof. Sullivan. �Indeed the major policy issue is the real differences in cancer research investment between the Member States themselves, rather than the prevailing gaps in cancer research funding between Europe and the USA, which have been a driving force for EU policy-making to date.�
He continued by making a special plea to those EU countries which lag behind the 15 Member States which carry out the majority of the research.
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