Access to cancer care unequal across Europe

	Tweet

There are stark inequalities in patient access to cancer treatment across Europe, according to a new report.

The report by the Karolinska Institute in Sweden found that despite the proven benefits of new innovative treatments, patients across Europe do not have equality of access to these cancer drugs and the speed at which patients can benefit from them depends to a great extent upon the country in which they live.

Nineteen countries, representing almost 75 per cent of Europe’s population, were included in the report. Austria, Spain, and Switzerland are shown to be the leaders in terms of early adoption and availability of new cancer drugs whereas other countries, such as the UK, Czech Republic, Hungary Norway, and Poland lag behind.

The authors have called for urgent action by decision makers to ensure equity.

They pointed out that the total healthcare cost for cancer in countries included in this report is an estimated 120 euros per citizen (only 5 per cent of total healthcare expenditure).

And of this cancer budget, just 10 per cent is spent on cancer drugs.

“Patients have to wait too long to obtain the benefits of newer therapies and the biggest hurdle to the uptake of new drugs is the proactive allocation of financial resources and budget in the health care systems by policy and decision makers”, says Dr. Nils Wilking of the Karolinska Institute.

The report also argues that while new therapies generally increase health expenditure, the value they bring to patients in terms of survival and treating their cancer must be recognized. Research undertaken in the US by Dr. Frank Lichtenberg of Columbia University suggests that access to more and newer cancer drugs improves survival rates.

RELATED STORIES:
Music-based “Play” Helps Young Cancer Patients Cope   Protein may be key to new treatment in a childhood cancer   New Gene for Childhood Cancer Neuroblastoma Is Discovered   New insights into how cells repair damaged DNA   If you think cancer genes are simple, you don’t know JAK   Discovery Could Lead to Early Cancer Detection, Prevention   AACR to Host Teleconference on Metastasis   2008 Cancer Incidence and Mortality Report   ‘Cannabis alters human DNA’—new study   Immunotherapy for tumors key topic at cancer meeting   Lung cancer tied to family risk of other cancers   Genome study shows what cancers have in common   Scientists Find Key to Gene that Promotes Cancer Metastasis   Helping to Identify Small Tumors Early   Arsenic implicated in etiology of cancer   Getting down to cancer basics   3 is the magic number: A chain reaction required to prevent tumor formation   Unhealthy Behaviors More Prevalent in Survivors of Multiple Cancers, Study Shows   Risk of cancer increases with exposure to low-dose radiation   Costly Cancer Treatments: No Easy Access in U.S. or U.K.   Developing world gets tiny share of cancer spend   Gene That Causes Childhood Cancer Neuroblastoma Is Found

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]