Blog

The European Commission has published the Cancer Mission submission statistics following the closure of the 2026 call on 15 September. Across seven topics, applicants submitted 327 proposals that compete for an indicative 18 grants. The seven topics cover the objectives of the EU Cancer Mission, including understanding cancer, prevention and early detection, treatment, palliative care and quality of life. The Commission’s Work Programme allocated €124.19 million to the call, with expected project contributions ranging from around €5 million to €15 million.

The figures show considerable differences between topics, with submissions ranging from just 10 to 128. Based on the indicative number of projects expected to be funded, this translates into estimated topic-level success rates between 1% and 8.6%. These are estimates only: actual success rates will depend on the evaluation results and final number of grants awarded.

Virtual Human Twins attract exceptionally high interest

The clear outlier in terms of submitted proposals is HORIZON-MISS-2026-02-CANCER-01, which attracted 128 proposals for an indicative four grants. This gives an estimated success rate of only 3.1%, the lowest across the call.

The topic focuses on advanced multiscale Virtual Human Twins (VHTs) to improve understanding of cancer onset and progression and support personalised treatment. It combines several rapidly developing areas, including AI, multimodal health data, computational modelling and personalised medicine. The Work Programme allocates €35 million to the topic, with €8 to €9 million expected per project.

The figures indicate particularly strong applicant interest in this intersection of cancer research and digital health. However, submission numbers alone do not indicate how many proposals will pass the quality thresholds or how well individual proposals match the call topic requirements.

Quality of life topics also see strong competition

The second-highest number of submissions was recorded for HORIZON-MISS-2026-02-CANCER-07 on quality of life of older cancer patients, with 85 proposals competing for an indicative five grants. The estimated success rate is therefore 5.9%. Meanwhile, 42 proposals were submitted for the earlier and more precise palliative care topic, competing for three expected grants. This corresponds to an estimated success rate of 7.1%.

Quality of life topics also see strong competition

The second-highest number of submissions was recorded for HORIZON-MISS-2026-02-CANCER-07 on quality of life of older cancer patients, with 85 proposals competing for an indicative five grants. The estimated success rate is therefore 5.9%. Meanwhile, 42 proposals were submitted for the earlier and more precise palliative care topic, competing for three expected grants. This corresponds to an estimated success rate of 7.1%.

Smaller topics do not necessarily mean less competition

The remaining topics attracted between 10 and 35 proposals:

• 35 proposals for pragmatic clinical trials on immunotherapeutic interventions, with three approved projects expected;
• 14 proposals for cancer research capacity building with and for Ukraine, with one approved project expected;
• 13 proposals for microbiome-based early cancer prediction, with one approved project expected;
• 10 proposals for mental health support for young cancer survivors through the European Cancer Patient Digital Centre, with one approved project expected.

The estimated success rates for these topics range from 7.1% to 10.0%, illustrating that lower submission numbers do not automatically translate into low competition, particularly when the Work Programme foresees only one funded project. The evaluation results will be communicated on 18 December at the earliest. This means the Commission is aiming for a faster return than last year, when they were only communicated in February.

The evaluation results will be communicated on 18 December at the earliest. This means the Commission is aiming for a faster return than last year, when they were only communicated in February.