Important EU Project

19/10/2026

📢 IMPORTANT Project Newsletter #22 | October 2026 is out!

We are pleased to share the latest updates from the IMPORTANT EU Project, advancing research into personalised treatment strategies for older patients with advanced breast cancer. 🎗️

🔬 Clinical trial progress: As of 30 September 2026, all 16 clinical sites are open for recruitment, with 148 patients enrolled and 136 randomised.

🌍 Latest project highlights:

🔹 AI Open House Basel (25 September): Maryam Yeganeh (FHNW) presented the IMPORTANT Patient Companion application, highlighting its potential to support patient-centred healthcare navigation and decision-making.

🔹 5 Years EU Cancer Mission – Stronger Through Connection (1 October): IMPORTANT participated in this event in Brussels, showcasing its work on geriatric assessment-guided dose optimisation and the Self-Compassion pilot developed by UNED.

🤝 The newsletter also highlights ongoing efforts to strengthen recruitment across clinical sites and make study participation more accessible to older patients.

📄 Read our October newsletter to learn more about the project's progress, activities and next steps.

🌐 https://important-project.com/

29/09/2026

IMPORTANT EU Project at the Nordic Breast Cancer Meeting 2026
How can pragmatic clinical trials help generate evidence that is more closely connected to everyday oncology practice?

At the Nordic Breast Cancer Meeting, Prof. Antonis Valachis, Coordinator of the IMPORTANT project, presented "Design and ex*****on of pragmatic and registry-based randomized trials in Oncology"

During his presentation, he highlighted IMPORTANT as an example of a pragmatic clinical trial, demonstrating how innovative trial designs can help answer clinically relevant questions in real-world settings.
IMPORTANT is evaluating dose optimisation of CDK4/6 inhibitors for older patients with advanced HR+/HER2-negative breast cancer through a pragmatic, decentralised clinical trial.
🌍 Through this approach, IMPORTANT aims to contribute to:
🔹 Practice-changing evidence for dose optimisation of targeted therapies
🔹 Improved inclusion of older adults in clinical trials
🔹 More affordable and sustainable cancer care
The right dose, for the right patient, at the right time.


https://lnkd.in/d_MxwPxr

https://nordiskt-brostcancermote.mkon.se/

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29/09/2026

🤖 The IMPORTANT Patient Companion at AI Open House Basel!

The IMPORTANT Patient Companion was presented at AI Open House Basel, an event bringing together more than 100 participants to explore AI-related innovation and strengthen connections across the region.

Maryam Yeganeh (FHNW) presented the Patient Companion as a poster, showcasing how it supports patient-centred healthcare navigation and decision-making.

The event provided a valuable opportunity to make this work visible and connect with stakeholders from the health and technology sectors across Northwestern Switzerland and neighbouring regions.

A great opportunity to share how digital innovation within IMPORTANT can contribute to more patient-centred cancer care. 💜

29/09/2026

🎗️ IMPORTANT at the Nordic Congress on Breast Cancer 2026

The IMPORTANT EU Project was presented at the Nordic Congress on Breast Cancer, bringing treatment optimisation into an important conversation with the breast cancer patient community.

During his presentation "Treatment reduction – safe or risky?", Prof. Antonis Valachis, Coordinator of the IMPORTANT project, discussed treatment reduction and presented IMPORTANT as an example of how treatment optimisation can help identify the right treatment approach for each patient.

IMPORTANT is evaluating dose optimisation of CDK4/6 inhibitors for older patients with advanced HR+/HER2-negative breast cancer through a pragmatic, decentralised clinical trial.

At the heart of the project is a simple but important principle:
💗 The right dose, for the right patient, at the right time.

By generating evidence on treatment optimisation, IMPORTANT aims to support more patient-centred cancer care while maintaining treatment effectiveness and improving quality of life.

18/08/2026

📢 New publication from the IMPORTANT EU Project!

We are pleased to share a new publication by our project partner University of Patras (UPAT), published in Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence:

“From mechanistic models to artificial intelligence: exploring the potential of digital twins in geriatric oncology”

The study explores how mechanistic modelling, artificial intelligence and machine learning can come together to advance digital twins in geriatric oncology.

Focusing on older people with cancer, the researchers examine the potential of hybrid digital twins to combine interpretable biological models with data-driven AI approaches, supporting more personalised and adaptive treatment strategies.

The study also presents a proof-of-concept in breast cancer, using comprehensive geriatric assessment, clinical tests and quality-of-life measures to explore how computational approaches could support treatment and dosing decisions.

This work contributes to the broader goals of IMPORTANT: generating knowledge and tools that can help advance more individualised treatment approaches for older patients with breast cancer.

👏 Congratulations to the UPAT team — Panagiotis Karampelesis, Spyros Denazis, Odysseas Koufopavlou and Evangelia Zacharaki — on this publication!
🔗 Read the open-access article:
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/artificial-intelligence/articles/10.3389/frai.2026.1760912/full
🇪🇺 IMPORTANT is funded by the European Union under Horizon Europe.


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 the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

This survey explores how machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) can be integrated with mechanistic models to create more accurate, dynamic, predic...

27/07/2026

📣 IMPORTANT Newsletter #19 is now available!

This latest edition shares key recruitment updates and new research from the IMPORTANT trial, which is investigating whether a lower initial dose of CDK4/6 inhibitors can achieve similar time-to-treatment failure compared with full-dose treatment, while potentially reducing treatment discontinuations caused by toxicity in older patients with advanced breast cancer.

Highlights from July 2026:

🔹 All 13 trial sites are open for recruitment
🔹 133 patients have been included and 124 randomized, as of 30 June 2026
🔹 Three additional sites in Greece are preparing to open for recruitment
🔹 A new consortium-led Research Letter on CDK4/6 inhibitor dosing patterns among older patients with metastatic breast cancer has been published in the Journal of Geriatric Oncology

Recruitment remains open until April 2027. Every patient counts as we work to generate robust evidence that can support safer, more individualized treatment decisions for older people with breast cancer.
🌐 Learn more: https://important-project.com/



The IMPORTANT project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101104589. The UK participant in the IMPORTANT project is supported by UKRI grant No. 10072029.

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 the European Health and Digital Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

27/07/2026

📢 New publication from the IMPORTANT project

We are delighted to share a new Research Letter published in the Journal of Geriatric Oncology:
"CDK4/6 inhibitor dose patterns among older patients with metastatic breast cancer: A multinational survey study"
The study presents findings from a survey of 123 oncologists across Finland, Greece, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden, exploring how CDK4/6 inhibitors are prescribed for older patients with HR-positive/HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.

The results highlight considerable variation in clinical practice. In the first-line setting, 71.5% of respondents reported using a reduced starting dose in some older patients, most commonly because of impaired performance status, comorbidities or functional limitations. The findings underline the current uncertainty surrounding optimal dosing and the need for prospective clinical evidence to support treatment decisions for older adults.
This work directly contributes to the objectives of IMPORTANT EU Project. The project is conducting a pragmatic clinical study to generate evidence that can support more individualised treatment and follow-up approaches for older patients with advanced breast cancer.

🔗 Read the open-access publication:
https://www.geriatriconcology.net/article/S1879-4068(26)00222-5/fulltext


Funded by the European Union under Horizon Europe Grant Agreement No. 101104589.

10/06/2026

The IMPORTANT Project consortium has successfully completed its 5th project meeting in Helsinki, Finland!

On 9 June 2026, partners gathered in Helsinki for a full-day meeting dedicated to reflecting on the progress achieved so far, exchanging updates from across the consortium, and aligning on the priorities that will guide the next phase of the project.

The discussions offered an important opportunity to look closely at ongoing project activities, including recruitment progress, dissemination efforts, research outputs, pilot developments, and ethics and compliance. The meeting also created valuable space for partners to share perspectives, address key priorities, and strengthen collaboration across the different workstreams.

As the IMPORTANT Project moves forward, the consortium remains focused on its shared goal: contributing to more individualised treatment approaches and stronger evidence generation for older patients with advanced breast cancer.

A warm thank you to all partners for their valuable contributions, constructive discussions, and continued commitment to the project.

Funded by the European Union under Horizon Europe grant agreement No. 101104589. The UK participant in Horizon Europe Project IMPORTANT is supported by UKRI grant number 10072029.

11/05/2026

📢 The IMPORTANT Trial Newsletter #17 is out!
In this May 2026 edition, we share the latest updates from the IMPORTANT trial, including:
✅ All 13 sites are now open for recruitment
✅ 118 patients included and 109 randomized as of 30 April 2026
✅ Updates on the trial’s adaptive design and patient-centered adaptations
✅ Latest information on the toxicity-driven interim analysis
✅ Key reminders for participating sites and study teams
The IMPORTANT trial continues working to generate high-quality evidence on dose optimization of CDK4/6 inhibitors in older breast cancer patients, helping support more individualized treatment and follow-up approaches in real-world clinical practice.

Funded by the European Union under Horizon Europe grant agreement No. 101104589. The UK participant in Horizon Europe Project IMPORTANT is supported by UKRI grant number 10072029.

16/03/2026

📍 IMPORTANT Trial presented at the EUnetCCC - European Network of Comprehensive Cancer Centres Symposium

We are pleased to share that the IMPORTANT trial poster was presented at the first symposium hosted by the EU-funded Joint Action EUnetCCC - European Network of Comprehensive Cancer Centres, organised in collaboration with the European Academy of Cancer Sciences.

The symposium, “Innovating Cancer Care Through De-escalation Studies”, brought together experts from across Europe to discuss how high-quality de-escalation studies can help optimise cancer treatment while maintaining the best possible outcomes for patients.

The IMPORTANT trial contributes to this discussion by exploring how geriatric assessment can support dose optimisation of CDK4/6 inhibitors in older patients with breast cancer, helping advance more personalised and patient-centred treatment strategies.