Research

Europa Donna promotes the advancement of breast cancer research and supports patient involvement at two levels:

  • As a patient
  • As a patient advocate, contributing throughout the different stages of a clinical trial to help ensure that research remains relevant to patients and responsive to their needs and interests.

Here you can find resources that may help advocates remain well informed about research and clinical trials.

Research Projects where the Europa Donna Coalition is involved​

The Europa Donna Coalition is involved in several European and international breast cancer research projects.

The DEFINITIVE project is a clinical trial that aims to demonstrate that making personalized treatment decisions in early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer using HER2DX® diagnostic assay improves the quality of life without affecting the outcome and survival rates, while also reducing healthcare costs.

The DEFINITIVE project is a clinical trial funded by the European Commission that aims to demonstrate that making personalized treatment decisions in early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer using HER2DX® diagnostic assay improves the quality of life without affecting the outcome and survival rates, while also reducing healthcare costs.

Within this effort, Europa Donna leads the Work Package dedicated to representing the patient perspective throughout all phases of the trial. This includes establishing a Patient Advisory Group to review patient-facing materials, identify unmet needs, and anticipate challenges that participants may encounter. All insights are being used by Europa Donna to develop training resources for patients, caregivers, family members, and, in the future, the wider public, helping people approach clinical studies in a more informed, confident, and supportive way.

Project website: www.thedefinitivetrial.eu

Path-For-Young aims to answer a critical question: can some young, high-risk HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer patients safely avoid chemotherapy and proceed directly to endocrine therapy? To explore this, the study uses advanced genomic testing to identify patients who may meet the criteria to avoid chemotherapy without compromising outcomes.

Path-For-Young has involved Europa Donna from its very inception, ensuring that the patient perspective is embedded from the study design onwards.

Europa Donna contributed to the creation of the Patient and Healthcare Professional Stakeholder Co-Creation Board, an essential group that provides ongoing input by identifying patient needs, anticipating potential challenges and helping integrate these insights into the trial.

Through a series of collaborative workshops, the Co-Creation Board has played a key role in shaping the study by:

  1. contributing to the definition of the study’s goals and objectives;
  2. advising on how outcomes should be measured, including quality-of-life indicators;
  3. providing feedback to improve the overall patient experience during the trial;
  4. reviewing and refining patient-facing materials to ensure clarity, relevance and accessibility;
  5. identifying unmet needs that may not have been initially considered.

These workshops also serve as valuable learning and brainstorming sessions, fostering continuous dialogue between patients and healthcare professionals to strengthen the study and its real-world impact.

Project website: path-for-young.unicancer.fr

Other Projects

The Europa Donna Coalition is involved in several European and international breast cancer research projects.

4D PICTURE project

4D picture – Producing Improved Cancer Outcomes Through User-centred Research

AURORA

Manuscript Data Sharing

Cinderella

Cinderella Project – Artificial Intelligence applied to Breast Cancer research.