Improving access to early lung cancer treatment in Europe

There are significant differences between European countries in reimbursement and access to new treatments for patients with early-stage lung cancer. There are also differences in reimbursement timing and indications between the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Researchers from the UMC Cancer Center Amsterdam analyzed the situation and their findings were published today. Lancet Regional Health Europe As part of this series on the latest developments in the treatment of lung cancer.

“Tackling inequalities in access to treatment must be a shared European priority,” says Idriss Bartje, a pulmonologist at UMC Amsterdam. Dr. Bahce collaborated with colleagues in seven European countries to map the latest developments using literature reviews and analyze access to these new treatments from a European perspective.

“Existing differences in healthcare systems and reimbursement structures between European countries threaten to exacerbate healthcare inequalities at both European and national level. We therefore recommend a pan-European approach to reduce these inequalities. “We’re looking for that,” says Burtje.

He proposed measures such as further international cooperation between the EMA and other registration authorities, harmonization of cost-effectiveness procedures in European countries, more rigorous evaluation of reimbursement criteria, and improved patient-centered multidisciplinary cooperation. are doing.

The standard treatment for healthy patients with early-stage lung cancer is always surgery, sometimes in combination with preoperative or postoperative chemotherapy. Recently, the EMA has approved new treatments such as immunotherapy, which are thought to significantly improve survival rates after surgery. More innovative treatments are expected to be approved, potentially exacerbating existing inequalities within Europe.