The EORTC agenda: Integrating scientists into clinical cancer research

Recognition of the importance of translational research in the development of new therapies for cancer treatment has led to significant structural reform of the European Organisation for the Research and Development of Cancer (EORTC). Accepting that cancer is a far more complex issue than previously envisaged and that it will only be unravelled by logical, science-driven processes, is now placing scientists center-stage in translational research-driven clinical research settings. Biotherapy will also reap the rewards of this policy. Laboratories working on activities such as the evaluation, standardization, and improvement of immunomonitoring assays, and the development of biomarkers already identified in EORTC-core institutes and associated with various EORTC trials, will improve the communication, logistics, speed of progress, and quality of research.