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Unequal Access to Newly Registered Cancer Drugs Leads to Potential Loss of Life-Years in Europe

Background. Many new cancer medicines have been developed that can improve patients’ outcomes. However, access to these agents comes later in Europe than in the United States (US). The aim of this study is to assess the access in Europe to newly registered cancer drugs and to get more insight in the...

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Autores principales: Uyl-de Groot, Carin A., Heine, Renaud, Krol, Marieke, Verweij, Jaap
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7464890/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32824444
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cancers12082313
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author Uyl-de Groot, Carin A.
Heine, Renaud
Krol, Marieke
Verweij, Jaap
author_facet Uyl-de Groot, Carin A.
Heine, Renaud
Krol, Marieke
Verweij, Jaap
author_sort Uyl-de Groot, Carin A.
collection PubMed
description Background. Many new cancer medicines have been developed that can improve patients’ outcomes. However, access to these agents comes later in Europe than in the United States (US). The aim of this study is to assess the access in Europe to newly registered cancer drugs and to get more insight in the implications of these variations for patients. Methods. A retrospective database study was conducted. Analyses involved 12 cancer drugs and 28 European countries in the period 2011–2018. Time to patient access, speed of drug uptake, and the potential loss of life years due to a delay in access have been studied. Results. Marketing approval for the cancer drugs came on average 242 days later in Europe than in the US, and actual patient access varied extensively across Europe. The average time to market in Europe was 403 days (range 17–1187 days). The delay in patient access of ipilimumab and abiraterone may have led to a potential loss of more than 30,000 life years. Conclusion. It takes a long time for patients to get access to newly registered cancer drugs and there is great variation in access. The health outcomes can be substantially improved by faster processes.
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spelling pubmed-74648902020-09-04 Unequal Access to Newly Registered Cancer Drugs Leads to Potential Loss of Life-Years in Europe Uyl-de Groot, Carin A. Heine, Renaud Krol, Marieke Verweij, Jaap Cancers (Basel) Article Background. Many new cancer medicines have been developed that can improve patients’ outcomes. However, access to these agents comes later in Europe than in the United States (US). The aim of this study is to assess the access in Europe to newly registered cancer drugs and to get more insight in the implications of these variations for patients. Methods. A retrospective database study was conducted. Analyses involved 12 cancer drugs and 28 European countries in the period 2011–2018. Time to patient access, speed of drug uptake, and the potential loss of life years due to a delay in access have been studied. Results. Marketing approval for the cancer drugs came on average 242 days later in Europe than in the US, and actual patient access varied extensively across Europe. The average time to market in Europe was 403 days (range 17–1187 days). The delay in patient access of ipilimumab and abiraterone may have led to a potential loss of more than 30,000 life years. Conclusion. It takes a long time for patients to get access to newly registered cancer drugs and there is great variation in access. The health outcomes can be substantially improved by faster processes. MDPI 2020-08-17 /pmc/articles/PMC7464890/ /pubmed/32824444 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cancers12082313 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Uyl-de Groot, Carin A.
Heine, Renaud
Krol, Marieke
Verweij, Jaap
Unequal Access to Newly Registered Cancer Drugs Leads to Potential Loss of Life-Years in Europe
title Unequal Access to Newly Registered Cancer Drugs Leads to Potential Loss of Life-Years in Europe
title_full Unequal Access to Newly Registered Cancer Drugs Leads to Potential Loss of Life-Years in Europe
title_fullStr Unequal Access to Newly Registered Cancer Drugs Leads to Potential Loss of Life-Years in Europe
title_full_unstemmed Unequal Access to Newly Registered Cancer Drugs Leads to Potential Loss of Life-Years in Europe
title_short Unequal Access to Newly Registered Cancer Drugs Leads to Potential Loss of Life-Years in Europe
title_sort unequal access to newly registered cancer drugs leads to potential loss of life-years in europe
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7464890/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32824444
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cancers12082313
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