Too many anti-cancer drugs reach patients without clear answers on the right dose, the right duration, or the right combination. The result: avoidable side effects and reduced toxicity for patients, and avoidable costs for health systems. On 11 September, CPE, with the support of the SALVOVAR Project Consortium, brought regulators, drug developers, researchers, clinicians and patient organisations together in Brussels to ask what it would take to fix that and why pragmatic clinical trials may be a big part of the answer.
The conversation built on a CPE–EORTC White Paper calling for greater support for Treatment Optimisation studies through Pragmatic Clinical Trials (PCTs), and drew on SALVOVAR, a European research initiative led by Hospices Civils de Lyon and funded under the EU Horizon Cancer Mission, as a live example of what this approach looks like in ovarian cancer.
Key Takeaways
Four themes ran consistently through the day:
- Focus on real-world needs. Clinical trials should be designed to answer the questions that matter most in everyday care, not only those required for regulatory approval.
- Generate real-world evidence. Pragmatic trial designs can better reflect how treatments actually perform in routine clinical practice.
- Optimise treatment. Getting dose, duration, sequencing and combination right can improve outcomes while reducing unnecessary side effects, toxicity and cost.
- Strengthen collaboration. Researchers, policymakers, regulators, drug developers and patient organisations each have a distinct and necessary role to play in making pragmatic trials work.
The SALVOVAR trial gave these principles a concrete anchor, illustrating how a pragmatic approach in ovarian cancer can weigh clinical benefit alongside what matters most to patients: acceptability, quality of life and cost-effectiveness.
At CPE, we remain committed to putting patients at the centre of clinical research, ensuring that patient perspectives, quality of life and real-world needs continue to shape the evidence base that informs cancer care across Europe.
We would like to thank all our speakers and participants for a rich and constructive conversation, and the SALVOVAR Project Consortium for their support in making this event possible.
