Germany lacks unified cancer registry, hindering research

A new study commissioned by health insurance companies and conducted by the IGES Institute reveals that Germany lacks a unified national cancer registry. While Germany pioneered the first cancer register in Hamburg in 1926, the country currently relies on 15 different state-level databases rather than a single, centralized system.

Experts and the German Cancer Aid have long advocated for merging these databases into a cross-state registry with uniform scientific and technical standards. The study highlights significant issues with data quality, noting that reports on treatments and disease progression are often missing or insufficient.

This fragmentation is impacting the competitiveness of German medical research. For example, the vaccine pioneer BioNTech has relocated parts of its cancer research to the United Kingdom to take advantage of better digital data infrastructure, promising multi-billion euro investments there while closing several locations in Germany.