Europe’s cancer community has published a new report setting out clear guidance on how using best practice across the cancer pathway can help redesign services and transform patient care.
Innovation for sustainable cancer care, published by Vintura, was commissioned by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) and developed with over 20 organisations working in cancer care.
The report points to five key trends in innovation that can be used to enable more sustainable care: artificial intelligence and machine learning, digital health and digital medicine, precision medicine and biomarker testing, curative and capacity extending therapies, and out-of-hospital care.
Demonstrating the potential of these trends in redesigning cancer care at all stages along the care pathway are 30 real-life examples.
This includes, through population-wide screening by age or hereditary factors, ways to increase the proportion of colorectal cancer cases identified at stage one from 15% to around 50%.
Examples within the report also include how AI-enabled image analysis allows radiation oncologists to reduce reading time of lung cancer CTs by approximately 40%, how immune oncology activates the patient’s immune system to fight cancer and how a comprehensive geriatric assessment can identify individuals more likely to experience benefits from onco-geriatric care.
Despite cancer outcomes in Europe having improved significantly in recent decades, diagnoses are rising as the population grows and ages.
‘Cancer care decision-makers have a choice to make: either to continue with cancer care as we know it, caring for more and more people with the same or fewer resources with little regard for sustainability of any kind, or to innovate, which will free up resources for more sustainable care,’ the report states.
The guide comes as the European Commission is preparing to publish the revision of the pharmaceutical legislation, with the report urging policy makers to commit to five areas when making key decisions in the design of cancer care in the future.
This includes adopting policies that put patients and outcomes first and investing in the research and development required to make these fundamental changes to cancer care
Policy makers are also urged to commit to robust evidence in order to maximise the impact and scale of care, reimburse healthcare organisations that implement sustainable practices and clear progression pathways and networks to scale up successful pilots to foster innovation.