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.