The risk of developing and surviving cancer are shaped by where you live, according to a new report, published today. The report, written by The Swedish Institute for Health Economics (IHE) and commissioned by the EFPIA Oncology Platform, finds deep inequalities in access to prevention and screening, biomarker testing and innovative treatments, and in quality of life for cancer survivors.

The report emphasizes the critical role of efficient use of healthcare budgets in providing high-quality care to address inequalities in patient outcomes. It identifies several common reasons for inequalities, including political prioritisation of cancer care, health expenditure, availability of supporting infrastructure and medical professionals, if clinical guidelines are up to date, geographic distance to health facilities, and health literacy of the public and patients

Key findings:

• Spending differences: the lowest spending country, Romania (€70 per capita), spent one quarter of the highest spending country, Luxembourg (€294), adjusted for price differentials.
• Outcome variation: for colon cancer, the five-year survival rates range from 50% in the worst-performing countries (HR, SK, RO, BG, PL) to 70% in the top performers (DE, FI, SE, BE, CY).
• Prevention: Only Portugal is reaching the EBCP target of vaccinating 90% of girls against HPV. Two countries are still not fully reimbursing HPV vaccination for boys.
• Screening: Cancer screening rates for colorectal cancer range from 5% (Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania) to 76% (Denmark).
• Biomarkers: Access to next-generation sequencing (NGS) testing is low across the EU; patients in Eastern European countries have the lowest access.
• Treatment: Around 1 out of 2 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer in Finland, Poland or Romania receive cancer medicines according to European guidelines although the medicines are reimbursed. In Belgium and Portugal it is nearly 8 out of 10.
• Supporting survivors: Only eight Member States (France, Belgium, Cyprus, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Spain) have adopted legislation on the ‘right to be forgotten’, impacting access to financial products for cancer survivors.

The publication provides concrete recommendations to national policymakers, offering short- and long-term actions that can be taken to address shortcomings and enhance and ensure more equal access to cancer care.

As we are approaching the 3^rd anniversary of the launch of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, the report published today aims to provide an additional perspective of the challenges still faced by cancer patients throughout the EU and serves as a basis for continued multi-stakeholder dialogue on implementation priorities.

Background