European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said the EU is investing €4 billion in tackling cancer, including €600 million for research projects, in remarks at a conference on advancing brain cancer research.
Speaking on World Brain Tumour Day, von der Leyen cited figures of about 2.7 million people diagnosed with cancer each year across the EU, with around 42,000 diagnosed annually with brain tumours and 36,000 deaths, as cited by the Commission press service.
She said the EU has made HPV vaccination a standard recommendation for both girls and boys, adding that some member states have already vaccinated 90% of young girls and are seeing a reduction in cervical cancer rates.
HPV is a common virus that can cause cervical cancer and some other cancers.
Von der Leyen pointed out that 40% of cancer cases are considered preventable and called for greater focus on prevention, including screening and access to high-quality screening for everyone.
Faster trials, better data-sharing, and equal access
She also declared that the Commission wants to speed up the development of treatments, describing clinical trials as “often the bottleneck” and pointing to the planned European Biotech Act to help accelerate and simplify approvals for trials.
Von der Leyen said better data-sharing through the European Health Data Space would improve understanding and treatment, “especially in the age of AI”, while maintaining high privacy standards.
The European Health Data Space is an EU initiative intended to make health data more accessible for care and research.
She said inequalities persist in early detection and treatment, and that the EU’s goal should be equal access to high-quality care regardless of where people live, what they earn, or their level of education.
Von der Leyen also called for stronger support for cancer survivors, saying they can face higher insurance premiums or difficult loan conditions, and argued for “the right to be forgotten” so survivors are treated equally across the EU.
