Five European Cancer Charities Announce €12 million ATTRACT Programme for Rare Cancer Drug Trials, Scheduled to Launch in November 2022

Cancer charities in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Spain have announced a joint programme, named ATTRACT, that is scheduled to launch on 22 November 2022. The programme will focus on developing drugs to treat rare cancers.

The ATTRACT (Accelerate Together Rare Cancer Treatment) programme is a collaborative research initiative jointly promoted by five European cancer charities: Fundación científica Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (Spain), The Anticancer Fund (Belgium), Fondation ARC (France), Kom op tegen Kanker (Belgium) and the Dutch Cancer Society (The Netherlands). The aims of the programme are to make better treatment available for rare cancer patients and to accelerate development of drugs for rare cancers.

The focus of the call is on late phase, collaborative, international clinical trials that aim to develop better drug treatment for rare cancers. The programme encourages researchers and clinicians from different countries to come together, share knowledge, and collaborate.

The call will support multi-centre, international clinical trials at phase 2 or 3.

Eligible applicants include academic research groups and/or clinical/public health sector research groups based in Belgium, France, the Netherlands or Spain. Consortia must involve at least two of the five countries involved with this project.

The indicative total budget for the ATTRACT call is up to €12 million, provided by the five collaborating funding organisations.

Further details will be released when the call launches. The scheduled date for the launch of the call is 22 November 2022.

(This report was the subject of a ResearchConnect Newsflash.)