Mission Cancer 2026 boosts predictive and patient-centred oncology

The European Commission has already opened the 2026 call of the EU Mission Cancer, one of Horizon Europe’s main initiatives to foster research and innovation in oncology. The call will fund projects in areas such as Virtual Human Twins (VHT), microbiome-based early cancer prediction, immunotherapy for refractory cancers, palliative care and mental health support. Although the submission deadline, 15th September 2026, may seem distant, “preparing a competitive proposal takes time: properly defining the project idea, building a strong consortium and aligning the project with the European Commission’s priorities are steps that should be begin as soon as possible,” advises Ane García, Health Knowledge Area leader at Zabala Innovation.

What are the objectives of Mission Cancer?

EU Missions are a flagship Horizon Europe instrument designed to tackle major societal challenges through coordinated research and innovation, policy action, and citizen engagement. Each Mission sets concrete objectives to be achieved by 2030, bringing together public authorities, researchers, industry, healthcare actors and civil society around shared European priorities.

Since its launch in 2021, the EU Mission Cancer has been structured around four major objectives:

• Understanding cancer
• Prevention and early detection
• Diagnosis and treatment
• Quality of life

The 2026 Mission Cancer call

The 2026 work programme reflects the next operational phase of the Mission. Projects funded under the new topics will have to build on the infrastructures and data ecosystems developed in previous years and show a clear move towards more predictive, AI-enabled and patient-centred oncology approaches. The focus is shifting from experimental innovation towards projects capable of generating evidence directly applicable to clinical practice and healthcare systems.

The 2026 call includes seven topics across different themes, with a total budget of around €124 million, where Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) predominate. This year’s topics aim for stronger integration of predictive oncology, AI-supported approaches and patient-centred care.

HORIZON-MISS-2026-02-CANCER-01: Virtual Human Twin (VHT) Models for Cancer Research

A clear example of this evolution is the topic on VHT models for cancer research, which gives computational oncology, AI-driven modelling and digital patient simulations a much more explicit role within the Mission through the VHT framework.

A Virtual Human Twin is a digital representation of a human health or disease state that can integrate different types of clinical and biomedical data to simulate, analyse and predict health-related processes. Projects under this topic will have to combine multi-omics data, tumour molecular profiles, immune signatures, medical imaging and real-world data to improve the predictions of cancer progression and personalise treatments.

This topic is closely connected to existing European cancer infrastructures such as UNCAN.eu and the European Cancer Imaging Initiative, as well as the Advanced VHT Platform and the Virtual Human Twins Initiative funded under the Digital programme, and the European Health Data Space (EHDS). The Commission is seeking to exploit the data ecosystems built since 2021 to develop predictive oncology tools.

HORIZON-MISS-2026-02-CANCER-02: Microbiome for early cancer prediction before disease onset

The same shift towards prediction and personalisation is also visible in the Mission’s approach to prevention. This year’s microbiome-based topic focuses on identifying high-risk individuals before disease onset through the development of tools based on longitudinal microbiome analysis, minimally invasive biomarkers and AI-supported risk modelling.

The emphasis is no longer only on detecting cancer earlier, but also on anticipating cancer risk before symptoms appear. This suggests that proposals may benefit from going beyond technology development alone, showing how AI, predictive modelling or digital tools could be validated, implemented and eventually integrated into clinical or healthcare settings.

HORIZON-MISS-2026-02-CANCER-03: Pragmatic clinical trials to optimise immunotherapeutic interventions for patients with refractory cancers

The 2026 calls also reinforce the Mission’s focus on clinical implementation, cancer survivorship and quality of life. Under the Diagnosis and Treatment objective, the work programme includes a topic on pragmatic clinical trials for refractory cancers.

Pragmatic clinical trials are not new in the Mission Cancer portfolio; they have already appeared in several previous calls. Unlike traditional clinical trials, pragmatic trials evaluate how interventions perform in more realistic clinical settings and across broader patient populations, with the aim of maximising applicability and generalisability.

In 2026, the focus is placed on optimising immunotherapeutic interventions for refractory cancers, where treatment resistance and limited therapeutic options continue to be major clinical challenges. Overall, the call points to a continued emphasis on implementation, optimisation of care pathways and accessibility of advanced cancer treatments.

HORIZON-MISS-2026-02-CANCER-04: Earlier and more precise palliative care

Earlier and more precise palliative care is also taking on a more central role in the Mission. One of the main concerns highlighted at EU level is that palliative care interventions often arrive too late and are not sufficiently integrated into patient management.

The call therefore focuses on developing earlier, more precise and more patient-centred models of palliative care, taking into account patient needs, communication between carers and continuity of care across different healthcare settings. The topic also encourages the use of AI and remote digital tools to support clinicians, improve care coordination and facilitate more personalised supportive care.

HORIZON-MISS-2026-02-CANCER-06: Development of a research capacity building programme on cancer with and for Ukraine

The topic on developing research capacity with and for Ukraine adds an additional dimension focused on resilience, reducing inequalities and strengthening research and healthcare infrastructures across Europe. The projects shall support the strengthening or development of research and innovation capacities between EU Member States and Associated Countries, and Ukrainian cancer centres.

HORIZON-MISS-2026-02-CANCER-05: Boosting mental health of young cancer survivors through the European Cancer Patient Digital Centre (ECPDC)

Through its citizen engagement activities, the EU Mission Cancer identified mental health and psychosocial support as major concerns among adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors. This topic therefore aims to develop digital support platforms tailored to the specific mental health needs of young patients and survivors throughout their journey, from diagnosis to post-treatment follow-up.

“One of the clearest trends in the 2026 programme is the increasing importance of cancer survivorship and quality of life, fully in line with one of the Mission’s main objectives: improving not only cancer survival, but also how patients live during and after cancer treatment,” points out María Ibiza, consultant in the Health Area at Zabala Innovation .

Previous calls had already introduced projects related to supportive care, particularly for adolescents and young adults. In 2026, however, these dimensions are becoming much more central to the Mission’s strategy, as can also be seen in other topics.

HORIZON-MISS-2026-02-CANCER-07: Improve the Quality of Life of older cancer patients

Another area receiving more attention this year is the quality of life of older cancer patients. Older people represent the majority of cancer cases in Europe, yet they remain significantly underrepresented in clinical research. The call highlights the complexity of managing cancer in older patients, where frailty, comorbidities, cognitive health, mobility and social factors can strongly influence treatment outcomes and quality of life. It also points towards more personalised and patient-centred approaches in oncology, where quality-of-life expectations become an important part of treatment decision-making.

In many ways, the 2026 programme marks the moment when Mission Cancer starts moving from infrastructure building towards practical implementation and use of the European cancer ecosystem developed over the last five years.

What should applicants pay attention to?

Previous Mission Cancer evaluations showed that projects aligned with the broader Mission ecosystem tend to position themselves more strongly, according to the experts consulted. Applicants should therefore “demonstrate links with existing European infrastructures, interoperability strategies, realistic implementation pathways and clearly patient-centred approaches” suggests Laura Sesma, expert team leader for European Programmes in the Health Area at Zabala Innovation. In her words, “these aspects are especially relevant for AI-related proposals, where technological ambition alone is unlikely to be sufficient without robust clinical validation strategies and access to high-quality patient cohorts”.

Another recurring weakness in previous Mission Cancer proposals has been the limited integration of technology partners with clinical teams and experts in the social sciences and humanities. This is particularly important in health-related projects, which always require strong multidisciplinary consortia, bringing together expertise in clinical oncology, AI and data science, omics technologies, digital health, patient engagement, regulation and ethics, and healthcare implementation. Ibiza also stresses that “patient organisations are becoming key partners in Mission Cancer proposals, especially in topics related to survivorship, mental health and quality of life”.

“Behind many of these topics lies a common objective: ensuring that advances in cancer research translate into better day-to-day care, support systems and quality of life for patients and survivors across Europe,” underlines García. “Although AI, predictive modelling and digital infrastructures are playing an increasingly important role across the Mission, many of the 2026 topics ultimately focus on a broader challenge: improving how people live during and after cancer,” she adds.

According to Sesma, “the 2026 programme suggests that Mission Cancer is entering a more mature phase, in which infrastructures, clinical implementation and patient-centred approaches are becoming more closely connected, with VHT and microbiome-based prediction among the clearest examples of this transition”. Ultimately, the Mission is no longer focused solely on understanding cancer, but also on predicting it, managing it and improving life with and beyond cancer.