JANE-2

Official Project Website: https://jane-project.eu/

Project description

Background

This Joint Action is related to Flagship No. 5 of the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, and it will support the establishment of new Networks of Expertise in the cancer field and cancer-related diseases not yet covered by the existing European Reference Networks (ERN) system, where cross-border cooperation will provide added value. These networks of expertise will focus on specific, challenging cancer conditions that will benefit from cross-border cooperation and EU expertise. These conditions include metastatic diseases, comorbidities in cancer care, complex types of cancer with poor prognosis, pediatric cancers and special conditions related to genomics in cancer care, palliative care and survivorship. The networks will connect experts, share knowledge across the EU and provide patients with answers, certainty, and hope where they did not have it before.

JANE-2 Joint Action will use guidelines, protocols, best practices, or any other materials developed within the framework of the Joint Action on Networks of Expertise (JANE JA), as well as related projects such as the EU Network of Comprehensive Cancer Centers Joint Action (EUnetCCC JA), Preparatory activities on creation of National Comprehensive Cancer Centers and EU Networking (CraNE JA), the CSA action on Comprehensive Cancer Infrastructure in Europe (CCI4EU), and the European Reference Networks (ERN).

Purpose of the project

JANE-2 is a Joint Action aiming at shaping seven new Networks of Expertise in the cancer field in the following domains: personalized primary prevention; survivorship; palliative care; omic technologies; hi-tech medical resources; one or more complex & poor-prognosis cancer(s); young adults with cancer. The networks will share best practices and knowledge, ensuring access to top-quality care for every patient, regardless of their location.

Project objectives

The Joint Action has two goals: 1) to prepare everything necessary to launch the new Networks of Expertise; 2) to critically evaluate existing models of current and future EU networking with a view to optimizing the functioning of the new Networks of Expertise. The project’s management goal is to pave the way towards the creation of 7 Networks of Expertise (NoEs). JANE-2 JA sets the gold standard for treatment, research, innovation, and education.

Phases of the project (Work Packages)

JANE-2 is organized in 16 Work Packages (WP) as follows:

WP1: Project management and coordination

Project Coordination is devoted to a strict management of the Joint Action in all aspects: day-by-day project management, supervising and assessing the scientific activities, ensuring quality of results and timeliness of implementation.

WP2: Dissemination and Communication

General objective of this WP is to ensure high visibility, accessibility and promotion of the JA results and of the 7 NoEs.

WP3: Evaluation

The general objective of this WP is to evaluate the progress of JANE-2 against its internal milestones and deliverables and to ensure that the JA accomplishes its established objectives.

WP4: Sustainability

Identifying the target stakeholders / customers who will benefit from the NoE services.

NETWORKS OF EXPERTISE

• JANE will establish seven new Networks of Expertise (NoEs) in the cancer field

WP5: Complex and poor prognosis cancer (PPC)

This initiative aims to address the needs of patients with poor prognosis cancers and implement an action plan to enhance survival rates while maintaining a good quality of life.

WP6: NoE on Palliative Care

The NoE on PC aims to make PC available to all European cancer patients, according to their needs regardless of where in the disease trajectory the patients are.

WP7: Survivorship NoE

The general objective is to expand and consolidate the Survivorship NoE, establishing specialized working groups covering critical aspects of survivorship care across all ages and focusing on their implementation while guaranteeing the involvement of all relevant stakeholders.

WP8: Personalized Prevention NoE

Network of Expertise in Personalized Prevention has the overall objective to lead the way in shaping the future of preventive healthcare, ultimately improving health outcomes and well-being for individuals across Europe.

WP9: Omics network of expertise (NoE)

This network aims to ensure fast and efficient integration of omics technologies into all EU healthcare systems.

WP10: NoE on Hi-tech medical resources

The NoE on Hi-tech medical resources focuses on technologies that work across all cancers and are highly specialised and innovative. This network aims at finding solutions allowing patients across the EU to benefit from increased knowledge and expertise and more accessible health services.

WP11: NoE on adolescents and young adults (AYA)

The NoE on AYAs aims to be the network where healthcare professionals collaborate with NGOs, patient groups and relevant stakeholders about AYA with cancer and where collaboration between paediatric and adult cancer services will be strengthened to improve AYA care, from prevention to survivorship.

TRANSVERSAL TASK FORCES

WP12: Integration between health care and research

WP13: Integration between EU networking and Member States

WP14: Integration between IT infrastructures and AI tools

WP15: The ERN model

WP16: Patient Involvement

Added value

The ambition of this Joint Action is to pave the way towards new Networks of Expertise able to function effectively, building on previous and ongoing EU networking experiences, and finding solutions rooted in the European oncology community. Health care networking can be a privileged hallmark of the EU, having the potential to target the health of its citizens in a highly coordinated fashion.

Expected results and materials

The newly established NoEs will provide services to the European cancer community: producing, or supporting, clinical practice guidelines and/or general recommendations for medical professionals, patients and public; raising public awareness and carrying out advocacy/policy actions; developing healthcare organization models; developing educational initiatives/tools for medical professionals and patients; undertaking efforts to promote research; developing quality criteria for accreditation/endorsement mechanisms; engaging patients and the public and some other services.

Several materials/reports will be prepared, as Report on roundtable discussions, Report on policy actions, Evaluation reports and Networks of expertise annual activity reports.

Duration of the project: from 1 November 2024 until 31 October 2028

Leading organization: Fondazione Irccs Istituto Nazionale Dei Tumori, Italy

Project partners: There are 16 beneficiaries and 20 affiliated entities from the following countries: Belgium, Croatia, Czechia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Malta.

Funding: The project is financed by the European Union under Grant Agreement No. 101183265.

Disclaimer: Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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