World Cancer Day 2025: EORTC’s commitment to older patients

The theme of this year’s World Cancer Day “United in Unique” reflects the massive progress that has been made in tailoring treatment to individual patients over the past thirty years. Advances in genetic profiling have made it possible to offer treatments that are both the most effective in attacking the tumour and the least harmful in terms of side effects. But there is one group that, until recently, has tended to miss out on these advances – the older adults.

Given that cancer is primarily a disease of old age, it may seem strange that there has previously been so little attention given to optimising cancer therapies for such patients. Older patients have historically been limited or even excluded from trials of new treatments for several reasons. They tend to have more comorbidities, they may be frailer than younger patients, and their support systems may be more limited. Yet people age at different rates, and chronological age taken on its own may not be a reliable indicator of an individual’s ability to tolerate treatment. Functional status and cognitive ability may vary widely among people of the same age, making treatment tailored to the individual even more important.EORTC’s focus on patient-centred research and care rather than drug-centric research has revealed that treatments for younger patients are often not used effectively in older adults.

“Older patients represent the largest segment of the worldwide population with cancer, and as such should be the first target for treatment optimisation,” says EORTC Chief Executive Officer, Dr Denis Lacombe. “We are committed to addressing their needs through a number of innovative programmes.”

Read more: https://www.eortc.org/blog/2025/02/04/world-cancer-day-2025/