09/03/2020, 12:22

Dear Sir/Madam,

On behalf of professor Bart De Strooper I would like to thank you for supporting our call for increased emphasis on brain research in the strategic plan for Horizon Europe, which we launched last year. Our petition and list of signatories were submitted to Commissioner Moedas and we received a response from Jean-Eric Paquet, director general of Research and Innovation, albeit not the response we were hoping for.

His letter states the EU recognizes the great burden that brain disorders and diseases impose on patients, families, carers and healthcare systems, and is aware that the road from research results to their translation into clinical practice is long, which is why--allegedly--they increasingly invest in brain research. Despite our efforts though, the draft program for Horizon Europe still gives very little attention to brain health. Even worse, the overall ambitions for Horizon Europe have been dialed down substantially: the budget of € 94.4 billion put forward in May by the European commission has been cut to € 80.9 billion, even though the European Parliament had asked for € 120 billion.

We are extremely disappointed by this overall outcome and it makes clear that the research community, and neuroscientists in particular, need to be more vocal and proactive to raise awareness for the unmet medical needs of people living with brain disease, arguably the biggest medical burden for society in many ways, as loss of productive life years due to mental disorders outnumber those due to cancer.

While we remain committed to make the most of the available funding opportunities we realize the need to lobby for more support is greater than ever.

We hope we can continue to count on your support.

Kind regards,

Liesbeth

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Liesbeth Aerts, PhD

VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease research

liesbeth.aerts@kuleuven.vib.be