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This "new" strategy, in which cancer researchers beat the disease by collaborating in massive projects, 1 is bound to fail. Why? Because enforced cooperation for the sake of obtaining research grants is counterproductive to a physiologic matching of research interests, including a viable chemistry between participating scientists. The European grant programs for cooperative research, based on the same intentions as described by the authors, have not only turned out to be bureaucratic nightmares but also fostered wrong motivations for collaborations. There are already numerous cooperative cancer programs in the US, Europe and Asia which take advantage of the great diversity of expertise, focus and motivation without major governmental interference.