Bettina Ryll: Welcome to Europe’s Cancer Reality

Bettina Ryll, Founder of MPN Europe, shared a post by Violeta Astratinei, a Member of Melanoma Steering Committee of EORTC, on LinkedIn:

“I understand that most people have no idea about how bad the access to new cancer drugs in Europe *really* is.
In a nutshell, if you decide to get cancer, better pick one with a working early detection framework (all cancers tend to have better outcomes when detected early but you just have to read up how that goes) and then, a non-selective treatment (diagnostic reimbursement usually not synced with drugs) that by now has generics (originator drugs always a nightmare to access).
Hold on- you don’t get to decide to get cancer let alone which one?
WELCOME TO EUROPE’S CANCER REALITY.”

Quoting Violeta Astratinei’s post:

“Just for a reality check in Romania on how it is going with both personalised medicine and digitalization of healthcare. We were busy the whole morning paying for a HLA-A-02:01 test for a uveal melanoma patient, just one of many who cannot not afford molecular tests; we paid 769 lei, which’s roughly the equivalent of 160 euros, and the laboratory did not accept the online transfer only a person to come there, so we sent a volunteer who needed 2 hours off from her job to drive to the laboratory in a busy Bucharest. The patient is very sick and did not move back to his village without getting that test anyway. Who has 160 euros to give away or even 2000 in case of CGP with a population at a limit of poverty of about 30% and not sure how many laws and regulations we need in Romania just to reimburse basics like Braf, c-kit or HLA- A or to accept money via internet. I will ask everyone who speaks ”laws” to take some days off from their paid job and check how they are implemented. If we can do that as patient organisations, for sure KOLs, state authorities, and politicians can do it too.”

Source: Bettina Ryll/LinkedIn and Violeta Astratinei/LinkedIn