Posted by Michael Wonder on 23 Jun 2016
UK trailing Europe on access to cancer drugs
23 June 2016 - The UK is trailing Europe on cancer spend, survival rates and patient access to new oncology medicines, according to a new report.
According to the Swedish Institute for Health Economics report, more people than ever across Europe are surviving cancer.
Despite this, the pharma-funded report reveals the UK is spending less money on cancer care, five-year survival rates are below average, and the country has some of the lowest uptake of new cancer drugs compared with the largest EU economies.
In 2014 the average EU proportion of GDP spent on overall healthcare expenditure was 10.1%, and in the UK is 9.1%. Despite the increasing number of people being diagnosed, cancer expenditure as a proportion of overall healthcare expenditure across Europe has remained broadly stable at around 6% between 2002 and 2012. In the UK, this level of investment is below average, remaining unchanged at around 5%.
In the UK, survival rates at just under 50% were below the European five year relative survival rate average of 54% in 2000-07, up from 47% in 1990-94.
