Cancer and rare diseases have been on the EU political agenda in recent years. Here we list a number of initiatives focused on these disease areas. A conference on "European Actions to improve the life of patients living with rare diseases" was held from 25–26 October 2011 in Luxembourg. An overview of the conference and related documents can be found here.
Policy Initiatives on Rare Diseases/Rare Cancers:
- Council Recommendation on an Action in the field of Rare Diseases
- EU Orphan Drug Regulation
- EU Rare Diseases Task Force
- European Commission Communication on Rare Diseases: Europe’s Challenges
- European Platform for Rare Disease Registries (EPIRARE)
- European Union Committee of Experts on Rare Diseases (EUCERD)
- High Level Pharmaceutical Forum’s guiding principles on improving access to orphan drugs to all citizens in Europe
- Provisions on rare diseases of the Commission’s proposal for a Directive on the Application of Patients’ Rights in Cross-border Healthcare and the European Parliament’s report on the issue
- RARECARENet - Information network on rare cancers RARECARENet kick-off meeting presentations can be viewed here.
- RARECARE (Surveillance of rare cancers in Europe), including definition of rare cancers and list of rare cancers
Policy Initiatives on Cancer/Promoting Health:
- 2nd programme on Community action in the field of health
- Council Recommendation on Cancer Screening in cervical, breast and colorectal cancer
- European Commission Communication on Action Against Cancer: European Partnership
- European Commission’s White Paper Together for Health: A Strategic Approach for the EU 2008-2013
- European Parliament Resolution on Combating Cancer in the Enlarged European Union
- European Partnership for Action Against Cancer
- Health Council Conclusions during the Slovenian Presidency (Jan – Jun 2008) on Reducing the Burden of Cancer
- Seventh EU Research Framework Programme 2007-2013 (FP7)