EORTC (tool)

RRID:SCR_004070

An independent pan-European clinical research organization to improve the standards of cancer care through the multidisciplinary multinational efforts of basic scientists and clinicians. The efforts include the testing of more effective therapeutic strategies based on drugs, surgery and/or radiotherapy that are already in use. They also contribute to the development of new drugs and other approaches in partnership with the pharmaceutical industry which is accomplished mainly by conducting large, multicenter, prospective, randomized, phase III clinical trials. The EORTC Network comprises over 300 hospitals and cancer centers in over 30 countries which include some 2,500 collaborators from all disciplines involved in cancer treatment and research. The EORTC Headquarters staff handle some 6,000 new patients enrolled each year in cancer clinical trials, approximately 30 protocols that are permanently open to patient entry, over 50,000 patients who are in follow-up, and a database of more than 180,000 patients. Intergroup collaboration is also promoted to face current challenges of clinical trials aiming at targeted therapies in order to recruit a large number of patients within a reasonable period of time.