World Cancer Day: Survivorship summit highlights progress & new challenges
04.02.14
“A cancer diagnosis was once a death sentence. Many patients are now successfully treated.” – these words from EORTC are a good place to start. We have made huge progress in developing treatments for cancer in the past decades. Treatments that allow people to not only live longer, but even to beat cancer completely. More recent success stories have been those surrounding targeted therapies, driven by our increased understanding of the genetic mechanisms of disease. For instance, we now know of at least ten distinct types of breast cancer, each with a unique molecular structure. If we can develop distinct treatments for these different types, we have the potential to improve treatment outcomes for the patient subsets affected by these different types. Looking ahead, hopes are increasingly being put into immunotherapies, which essentially harness the human body’s immune system to fight tumours. In some ways, this is considered the “final frontier” of cancer research, something I have discussed in a previous blog.
It is thanks to improvements in research & development that we can today even have an event like EORTC’s survivorship summit. It’s a refreshing reminder of the progress we’ve made. It’s also a reminder of how far we still have to go: Not only do we still have progress to make in the realm of cancer therapy (among other disease areas), but with survivorship, we are faced with new hurdles to tackle. This was a point of EORTC’s programme, which examined the unique challenges faced by cancer survivors and reminded us that the consequences they face go far beyond health. Cancer can take a toll in many ways. The EORTC programme included sessions devoted to these difference consequences, from the psychological and social, to work and financial.
I’m a believer in science; science allows for great progress, but it can only take us so far. We need to consider the societal implications that accompany changes in healthcare and patient outcomes. We are also seeing this as we start to grapple with ageing populations – people are living longer, but we also need to consider how to maintain quality of life in old age, how to grapple with an increase in age-related diseases (i.e. Alzheimer’s) and more.
The progress we’ve made is worth noting – but we need to push on. Yes, advances in research have allowed for improved treatments and better lives for patients. With this improvement, however, come new responsibilities. As far as the pharmaceutical industry is concerned, that includes a need to acknowledge the concerns about the pricing of new cancer medicines. We need to recoup our investments, but prices of new oncology medicines must be objectively affordable. I am personally committed to broker a new understanding that will support access to medicines and support of innovation. Science and innovation have allowed for significant progress; now we need to tackle the new hurdles that progress puts before us. One of those challenges is equitable access. For both science and society, it’s time to think of new solutions.
More Information
This week the World Health Organization also released its World Cancer Report 2014. The forecasted increase in cancer cases at global level is yet another reminder of the need to raise awareness. The report can be downloaded here.
