MEPs pressed to close gaps in childhood cancer treatment
The European Parliament's Public Health Committee focuses on childhood cancer and the need to give it greater attention
Parents, medical experts and MEPs called for stronger EU action to overcome the economic and regulatory barriers holding back new treatments for childhood cancer during an exchange in the European Parliament’s public health committee.
Delphine Heenen of Childhood Cancer International (CCI) Europe described how the issue became personal when her son Raphael was diagnosed with cancer in 2013. After chemotherapy and the amputation of his right foot, his cancer returned. When she asked about clinical trials or promising research alternatives, she recalled the answer: “Silence.” Raphael died four days after his 20th birthday.
Heenen urged the EU to make three changes: allow children to travel across borders to participate in clinical trials when treatment options are exhausted; provide substantial EU and national public funding for paediatric cancer research; and establish joint procurement for medicines for rare, life-threatening diseases. This could offer industry greater certainty while securing better prices for governments and faster, more equal access for patients.
Professor Gilles Vassal of the European Society for Paediatric Oncology (SIOPE) highlighted the lack of medicines developed specifically for childhood cancers. Despite major advances in understanding diseases such as medulloblastoma, he said, “not a single medicine has been approved” for children and adolescents with that cancer. Vassal proposed using the EU Biotech Act to introduce a specific incentive for medicines developed first for children, including a 12-month extension of supplementary protection certificates.
Tomislav Sokol (EPP, Croatia) promised to “fight” for specific incentives in the Biotech Act and for changes allowing children to access clinical trials abroad. He also highlighted Parliament’s push for at least €10 billion for a standalone EU health programme.
Stine Bosse (Renew, Denmark) called for greater European cooperation and proposed creating a fund to help ensure access to specialised treatments across the EU. “If we stop thinking about this as rare, if we are a bit more bold on the finances, and if we also work much more closely together cross border, then we can do much more for these children,” she said.