The Instituto Coordenadas de Gobernanza y Economía Aplicada, a Spanish think tank, has published a report to mark World Cancer Day naming twenty organisations it considers to be driving progress in cancer care in Spain.
Progress through collaboration
The report’s central argument is that advances in cancer no longer depend on a single actor. Jesús Sánchez Lambás, the institute’s executive vice-president, says real progress comes when drug developers, research hospitals and the health system work together to bring new treatments to patients efficiently and fairly.
Research centres and hospitals
The report highlights, among others:
- Fundación Jiménez Díaz University Hospital in Madrid, where Dr Jesús García-Foncillas leads work on bringing precision oncology into everyday practice;
- the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), including Dr Mariano Barbacid’s research on pancreatic cancer;
- the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, a reference centre for blood cancers;
- the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology in Barcelona, led by Dr Josep Tabernero;
- the CAR-T programme at Hospital 12 de Octubre in Madrid, led by Dr Joaquín Martínez López.
Industry
Drug and technology companies named include Novartis, for radioligand therapy in metastatic prostate cancer; BeOne Medicines, for blood and lung cancers; AstraZeneca, which runs a global oncology hub in Barcelona; Gilead, for CAR-T cell therapies; and Novocure, whose tumour treating fields therapy for glioblastoma is now funded by the national health system.
Specialist centres
The report also mentions the proton therapy centre at Quirónsalud, MD Anderson Cancer Center Madrid for early-phase clinical trials, IVI for fertility preservation in cancer patients, and a specialist skin cancer programme led by Dr Ricardo Ruiz.
Patients and charities
Patient organisations and charities complete the picture: the Spanish Group of Cancer Patients (GEPAC), which campaigns for patients’ rights; the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), one of the country’s main funders of cancer research; and the CRIS Cancer Foundation, which supports research in public hospitals.
The challenge
The institute concludes that keeping this collaborative model going will determine whether Spain can turn scientific advances into real benefits for patients. A recurring theme is equal access: making sure that new treatments reach patients in every region, including islands such as the Balearics, where some advanced therapies still require travel to the mainland.
