So, at this particular conference, the ESMO 2026, I am the public policy member, one of the public policy members for the ESMO Society. And we crafted a session titled Exorbitant Costs of Drugs, What Can We Do? And we had four fantastic speakers in this. My co-chair was Professor De Vries, who was a world expert on economics of cancer drugs. She is the one who orchestrates the ESMO MCBS scores...
So, at this particular conference, the ESMO 2026, I am the public policy member, one of the public policy members for the ESMO Society. And we crafted a session titled Exorbitant Costs of Drugs, What Can We Do? And we had four fantastic speakers in this. My co-chair was Professor De Vries, who was a world expert on economics of cancer drugs. She is the one who orchestrates the ESMO MCBS scores. She is the one who makes the WHO essential drug list for the whole world. She was my co-chair and a speaker and we thrashed out, you know, several ways and means as to how we can cost cut the oncology treatment. And, you know, everybody, all the experts, not only in our session, but in all the sessions in this meeting, are convinced that we are heading to a place where we can’t afford so much of expense on cancer treatment. And cancer is, you know, as for a public policy expert, cancer is just one disease. You can’t put 90% of your healthcare budget in cancer treatment only. What will happen to the other non-communicable and communicable diseases. So there has to be an equitable distribution of funds which you have and this is particularly important for low middle income countries and I think it is also important and a big priority for each and every country developed or developing.
