| INCa, the French National Cancer Institute (Institut National du Cancer) is the pre-eminent national health and science agency dedicated to cancers. INCa has been created under the Public Health Act of 9 August 2004, to coordinate the French national efforts under the Cancer Plan, a long term initiative endorsed by the French President, to fight cancer. Attached to both the Ministries of Health and of Research, INCa plays a key pivotal role in coordinating, structuring and funding activities of all stakeholders involved in the fight against cancer in France. The missions of INCa encompass public health, care & patient’s life, research and information to people and professionals. INCa supports research activities following open and competitive calls for project proposals, independent evaluation and signature of funding agreements in 4 main research areas: cancer biology, clinical & translational research, and human, social & economic sciences, including public health, epidemiology and prevention. INCa is also instrumental in the development of shared biological resources and databases, and sponsors large clinical trials such as the PHARE or the SIGNAL trials. INCa is involved in international consortia. As way of example, INCa is a founding member of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and the French representative in its executive committee. INCa contributes to the ICGC global effort through two pilot phase research projects in alcohol induced hepato-cellular carcinoma and HER2+breast cancer. INCa’s annual budget dedicated to research against cancers amounts to about 60 M €. Since 2007, INCa has specific and recurrent funding programs devoted to translational research, including training & educational grants. INCa annual investments in translational research which current amount to about 12M€, are expected to increase in the next Cancer Plan starting Q4 2009. |
