Annie Wong, Consultant Medical Oncologist at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Senior Lecturer at The University of Auckland and University of Otago, shared on LinkedIn:
“Couldn’t have said it better!
Grateful to ESMO – European Society for Medical Oncology Cancer Medicines Committee, and our fantastic research team for their continued commitment to addressing global inequities in cancer care and improving access to cancer medicines.
There is still much work to be done to ensure that advances in cancer treatment translate into better outcomes for patients everywhere.”
Omali Pitiyarachchi, Medical oncologist at the Lost Cancer Research Centre at UNSW Sydney, shared Annie Wong’s post, adding:
“Congratulations to Dr Annie Wong for leading this important collaboration just published in ESMO Open:
‘Asia-Pacific analysis of ESMO study on availability, out-of-pocket costs and accessibility of antineoplastic medicines.’ It was a privilege to have contributed to this work alongside such a fantastic regional team.
Using data from the 2023 ESMO – European Society for Medical Oncology Global Consortium Study, we examined access to cancer medicines across 20 APAC countries, spanning diverse health systems and income settings.
Some of the findings are striking:
- WHO Essential Medicines List antineoplastics were consistently accessible in 100% of high-income settings, compared with 80.3% in upper-middle-income and 46.5% in lower-income settings.
- For high-clinical-benefit medicines, accessibility fell to 31.1% and 26.7% in upper-middle- and low-income countries, respectively, compared to 96.8% in high-income countries.
- Where these high-benefit medicines were available, patients frequently faced substantial out-of-pocket costs; reaching full-cost exposure for 88.6% and 95.2% of medicines in these settings.
Importantly, the work highlights that regulatory approval does not necessarily mean patient access. Reimbursement delays, financing structures, health technology assessment processes and affordability remain major barriers across the region.
The paper also proposes practical opportunities for change, including prioritising medicines according to clinical benefit, accelerated reimbursement pathways, regional HTA collaboration, stronger financial protection, innovative pricing and procurement strategies, and ongoing monitoring of access across APAC.
Ultimately, innovation in oncology only improves outcomes when patients can actually access it.”
Title: Asia-Pacific analysis of ESMO study on availability, out-of-pocket costs (OPC) and accessibility of antineoplastic medicines
Author: A.N.M. Wong, P. Franco, H.S. Sheikh, O. Pitiyarachchi, N. Prasongsook, M.V. Ordinario, R. Velasco, V. Agarwala, A. Dinh TL, A. Kapoor, T. Kogawa, H.H. Loong, R. Lui, H.G. Luna, M. Matias, K.Y.Y. Ng, V. Selvaraj, A. Sunggoro, L. Thamlikitkul, and N. Cherny.
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