CPE Webinar Series: Innovation in Treatment – EWAC 2024
This webinar, part of CPE’s European Week Against Cancer 2024 series organized with EFPIA Oncology Platform support, examines inequalities in access to innovative cancer treatments across EU Member States. Expert panelists including MEPs, oncologists, health economists, and patient advocates discuss disparities in availability of targeted therapies, immunotherapies, CAR-T cell therapies, and other advanced treatment modalities. Key topics include variations in national reimbursement timelines following EMA approval, differences in clinical trial participation rates across countries, access barriers to personalized medicine and precision oncology, affordability challenges for novel therapeutics, and the impact of fragmented health technology assessment processes on patient access. The session analyzes how treatment innovation gaps create survival inequalities across Europe and presents policy recommendations: accelerated and harmonized HTA processes for innovative treatments, coordinated pricing and reimbursement frameworks, expanded clinical trial networks to ensure equitable participation, support for off-label use in rare cancers, and sustainable funding mechanisms to ensure all EU patients benefit from therapeutic advances regardless of their country of residence.