FIGHT KIDS CANCER

The need for a European collaboration

KickCancer’s main lever to improve research and treatments for children with cancer is to finance research projects.

We wanted to conduct this crucial activity strategically. Because each type of paediatric cancer is rare (and some of them extremely rare with an occurrence of a couple of cases a year in Belgium), research must be collaborative and conducted at an international level to be effective and deliver as fast as possible. This is why KickCancer was so keen to initiate a European programme: FIGHT KIDS CANCER.

FIGHT KIDS CANCER is a joint initiative founded by KickCancer with Imagine for Margo (France) and the Kriibskrank Kanner Foundation (Luxembourg). CRIS Cancer Foundation (Spain & United Kingdom) and KiKa (the Netherlands) joined as permanent members in 2022. More organisations will be welcome in the future.

FIGHT KIDS CANCER’s DNA

FIGHT KIDS CANCER promotes the most innovative treatments through collaboration and funding research on childhood cancer at a European level. The programme includes annual calls for projects, a thorough review and selection process with international independent experts, and the supervision of the funded projects during their execution phase.

The FIGHT KIDS CANCER programme offers the following advantages for patients and researchers:

• It finances projects across countries: this enables researchers to collaborate at a European level while looking for one single source of funds. Now, consortia can apply for one grant (vs. one in each participating country) and report to one single group of funders. It is more efficient.
• It finances patients-centric projects: impact for patients, next to scientific excellence and adequate use of funds, is a major selection criterion yet while ensuring a very professional selection process.
• It allows the funders to push a political agenda in research: data-sharing, open-source publications, quality of life for patients...
• The recurring (yearly) nature of the programme gives long-term perspective to researchers when they nurture a project: they can keep on fine-tuning their ideas before applying because they know there will be another call in the coming year.

Evolution and adaptation to needs

Patients’ needs: focus on unmet medical needs

Based on the analysis of the projects funded during the three first years, we realised that there were too few projects aiming at disease areas with significant unmet medical needs, i.e., the deadliest types of paediatric cancers: brain tumours and sarcomas.

This is the reason why FIGHT KIDS CANCER decided to launch two calls exclusively dedicated to those disease areas. The first one, on brain tumours was concluded in 2024. The second one, on sarcomas, will be concluded in 2026. In 2025, the call will be “disease agnostic” again, to ensure that all children with cancer remain served by FIGHT KIDS CANCER. With these two exclusive calls, we aim at fostering a new interest from the research community in these two disease areas.

Researchers’ needs: Innovation Award

In 2023, we decided to support the research community thanks to a new funding opportunity: an innovation award.

Unlike funding for a research project, where the applicant must submit a detailed budget and a clear description of their research plan, an innovation grant is a funding opportunity that allows for innovative and creative thinking, genuine innovation, and scientific excellence, with potential for clinical impact. Funds are not reserved for a specific action or purchase, and the chosen researcher is free to use them as they see fit to benefit the research effort: hiring staff for the lab, investing in equipment...

The St. Baldrick's Foundation, a renowned American organisation that had already organised similar funding opportunities, was considered an expert in managing such a selection process. We quickly decided to partner with this organisation to create a joint award: FIGHT KIDS CANCER would provide the funding, and they would offer support to select the best applications.

Over 5 years, from 2020 to 2024, FIGHT KIDS CANCER led to the funding of 33 research projects and 1 innovation award for a total amount of almost 30 million euros, out of which 5 million euros are funded by KickCancer.