European drug development and its impact on national activities: the Dutch example

The development of new anticancer agents is becoming an increasingly complex task which is often beyond the capabilities of a single institution or company. To ensure fast, efficient, high-quality drug development, good coordination and collaboration are essential prerequisites. In this paper, the Dutch national drug development program is described as an example and placed in the perspective of Europe-wide efforts. Since knowledge of new molecular targets and biological approaches by which the malignant growth of cells can be stopped or prevented is increasing, new guidelines for the development of noncytotoxic drugs are required. To avoid duplication and to make the results obtained using these new agents comparable so that patients will gain the maximum benefit of efforts in this field, further extension of international coordination will be of utmost importance in the coming years.