International Childhood Cancer Day 2025:

MEPs on Cross-Border Care and Cross-Border Research

 

On February 4, in observance of World Cancer Day, CCI Europe and SIOPE organized the annual International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD) policy event at the European Parliament. This year’s initiative focused on the pressing issues surrounding access to cross-border healthcare and research in the field of paediatric oncology.

 

Hosted by MEP András Kulja (EPP, Hungary), the event brought together policymakers, healthcare experts, and patient advocates to discuss solutions for improving collaboration on access to care and research across Europe.

The first panel on cross-border healthcare highlighted the struggle faced by many families when accessing life-saving treatment across borders due to complex regulations. Acknowledging the need for cross-border care, MEP Nicolás González Casares (S&D, Spain) advocated for support for greater patient mobility, stating:

“We must ensure that children with cancer can travel freely to access the best available treatment.”

Similarly, MEP Vlad Voiculescu (Renew, Romania) stressed the urgency of cutting through red tape, by stating that

“No child with cancer should be denied life-saving care due to complex bureaucracy.”

At the same time, bringing the patient advocate perspective into the mix, Delphine Heenen (Patient Advocate, KickCancer CEO, and CCI-E Committee Member) stressed the importance of ensuring equal access to treatment and clinical trials for all children, regardless of where they live in Europe:

“Travelling abroad is sometimes a guarantee for better treatment, but it can entail financial and emotional burden for families.”

The complexities associated with paediatric cancer (e.g., rare disease with more than 60 different paediatric malignancies, difficulty to recruit patients in clinical trials etc.) as well as the small patient population have led to the oversight of the development of paediatric anticancer drugs. Investments in the development of drugs for a small and high-risk population is intrinsically and economically unattractive for pharmaceutical companies.

Ensuring children with cancer benefit from the latest scientific advancements requires seamless cross-border research collaboration. The second panel was an opportunity to explore the regulatory and operational barriers that slow down international collaboration in paediatric oncology trials, delaying access to innovative treatments.

MEP Vytenis Andriukaitis (S&D, Lithuania) highlighted the need for EU-wide cooperation, emphasizing,

“Every child in Europe deserves the best care. No single Member State can tackle this alone”.

While MEP András Kulja, host of the event, underscored the role of EU policies in working together to break down existing barriers on cross-border healthcare and research:

“The fight against childhood cancer must be fought together across countries, across sectors, across political parties.”

All stakeholders in the room agreed that only through strong political commitment and EU-wide collaboration can real progress be made in improving childhood cancer care and research. As MEP Tomislav Sokol said:

“We will continue to push the European Commission to change the Directive on Access to Cross-Border Healthcare.”

As we continue to advocate for policy changes, we remain hopeful that discussions like these will lead to concrete actions, ensuring that every child with cancer, no matter where they live, has access to the best possible care.

What is important to remember is that we are not talking about just “numbers”. While highlighting the inequalities in access to research. Nicole Scobie (Patient Advocate, ACCELERATE Chair, ITCC Committee Member and CCI Europe R&I Pillar Member) underscored:

“The very real cases of children not accessing potentially lifesaving or life-lengthening treatments today are very real situations. The research needs to move faster”.

You can watch the recording at: https://ow.ly/5jhc50V6ULu