ESMO 2025 | Addressing challenges in widespread adoption of subcutaneous therapies
Racha Kussaibati, MD, University Hospitals Birmingham, Birmingham, UK, comments on the need to expand the use of subcutaneous systemic anti-cancer therapy to include more treatments like immune checkpoint inhibitors, targeted therapies, and antibody-drug conjugates. Significant access barriers still exist and community hubs can improve access, particularly for those with limited mobility or living in rural areas. This interview took place at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2025 Congress in Berlin, Germany.
These works are owned by Magdalen Medical Publishing (MMP) and are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All rights are reserved.
Transcript
I think we need to expand the use of subcutaneous systemic anti-cancer therapy. There are still very few treatments that have subcutaneous preparations and I think we need to expand it more to other immunotherapies, other immune checkpoint inhibitors, also other treatments such as targeted therapies, maybe antibody-drug conjugates and biosimilars. There are still, unfortunately, quite a lot of barriers...
I think we need to expand the use of subcutaneous systemic anti-cancer therapy. There are still very few treatments that have subcutaneous preparations and I think we need to expand it more to other immunotherapies, other immune checkpoint inhibitors, also other treatments such as targeted therapies, maybe antibody-drug conjugates and biosimilars. There are still, unfortunately, quite a lot of barriers. The way we design the system should be slightly different. We need to maybe think about community hubs where patients can have easy access to these treatments. We need to think about bringing these treatments closer to home for patients who may be carers, who may be working parents, who don’t have easy access to hospitals and also patients who live in rural areas. And I think one of the huge barriers we have is the global issue. There is still very limited access to these treatments globally. And we’ve seen some studies showing that as few as 5% of patients can actually have access to certain treatments, including subcutaneous preparations. So I think as ESMO, as a European community, we have to work a little bit more on the global scale to try and improve the access of all patients throughout the globe to all of these innovative treatments that can save time for patients and for the healthcare system.
This transcript is AI-generated. While we strive for accuracy, please verify this copy with the video.
Read more...
