The European organization for research and treatment of cancer (EORTC)

Abstract

The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) was founded in 1962 by research workers in the main cancer research institutes of the Common Market countries and Switzerland. This small group of cancer specialists comprising clinicians and basic science researchers decided to form an association to promote cancer research in Europe through the joint efforts of the clinical and basic research groups of several countries. Among them, were Henri TAGNON from Brussels (Belgium), Silvio GARATTINI, Director of the Institute for pharmacological Research in Milan (Italy), D. VAN BEKKUM, Director of the Radiobiological Institute TN0 at Rijswijk (Netherlands), K. BREUR, Director of the Amsterdam Cancer Institute (Netherlands), G. MATHE, D. SCHWARTZ, and M. TUBIANA from Villejuif (France). Initially the organization was called the “Groupe Europeen de Chimiotherapie anticancereuse” (GECA), 1 year later it became the EORTC and has been known all over the world under this appellation. G. MATHE was its first President from 1962 to 1965. The creation of the EORTC was immediately greeted both by the governments of the various EEC countries and by the medical and scientific circles. From the outset its two main goals were first to develop and coordinate clinical research in Europe and indeed it has organized several hundreds of cooperative multi-center controlled clinical trials and second to promote that area of basic research, which is closed, to providing significant results for diagnosis or therapy. During the past 25 years the EORTC has progressively become the largest organization for therapeutic cancer research in Europe. In 1972, the NC1 in Washington stated that its creation has been “the most important development in therapeutic research on cancer in Europe.” PRESENT STRUCTURES