ESMO 2016 | ESMO 2016: Press brief on the inquality of access to innovative medicine in Europe for melanoma

Lidija Kandolf-Sekulovic, MD, PhD of the Military Medical Academy, Belgrade, Serbia gives a press brief on the results of the survey of the European Association of Dermato-Oncology conducted to assess access to innovative medicine for metastatic melanoma in Europe. Prof. Kandolf-Sekulovic explains that the rationale for this study came from the recent ESMO study on the availability of drugs, which revealed that the greatest disparity in terms of access occurs for cancers for which the treatment outcomes are dependent on innovative medicines (such as metastatic melanoma). The goal of the survey was to estimate the number of patients affected by this disparity in 30 European countries. The data reveals what she calls unaccetable inequalities in the EU in terms of registered and reimbursed drugs, whereby the inequality affects Eastern and South Eastern Europe. The data shows that 69% of metastatic melanoma patients (of 19,250) do not have access to the recommended frontline therapy.
Recorded at the 2016 annual meeting of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO), held in Copenhagen, Denmark.