Anti-Cancer Medicines Availability: International Study

Study objectives: to provide health authorities with data on the availability of licensed anti-neoplastic medicines

International Article

The ESMO International Consortium Study on the availability, out-of-pocket costs and accessibility of antineoplastic medicines in countries outside of Europe was published in Annals of Oncology in September 2017 to view the article please select below:

ESMO International Consortium Study 

Preliminary findings presented during ECC 2015 and ESMO Asia 2015

N. Cherny presented the preliminary data from the international arm of the study during the ESMO Society Session at ECC 2015, while A. Eniu presented the study during an ESMO Asia 2015 Special Session: Resource constraints as a barrier to lung cancer management: Developing nations.

Watch N. Cherny's presentation from ECC 2015

Watch A. Eniu's presentation from ESMO Asia 2015

Study objectives

The goals of this study are:

  • to provide national health authorities with data on the availability of licensed anti-neoplastic medicines
  • to report on the actual availability of anti-neoplastic medicines to patients when they are prescribed and when patients can afford them
  • to provide data that health authorities can create policies to improve availability and patient access to medically necessary cancer therapies
  • because no such data currently exists, this study intends to map out the situation, particularly in view of:
    • Recent medicine shortages due to the unavailability in several countries of some common, affordable, medically necessary anti-cancer medicines
    • Barriers to access to new, expensive medicines due to limited resources available in some countries

Coordinating partners

This ESMO study is conducted under the auspices of the ESMO Global Policy Committee (formerly ESMO Emerging Countries Committee) in collaboration with the:

Collaborating partners

Collaborators