Irish cancer services are in need of “urgent investment” with just 2-3 per cent of patients with the disease benefiting from clinical trials, the Irish Cancer Society has said.
On average, the charity said, there were three times as many interventional cancer clinical trials started in Denmark, which has a similar population to Ireland, between 2018 and last year as in the State, according to the preliminary results of a clinical trials scoping analysis.
The society said the Government’s “underinvestment” in clinical trials was “just one of the many ways that cancer patients in Ireland are being left behind”. It said Ireland’s national cancer strategy had a target of having 6 per cent of cancer patients benefiting from trials.
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In its pre-budget submission, the society warned that screening has not been expanded as planned, target waiting times for cancer tests are not being met, cancer surgeries are often delayed and radiotherapy services are running below capacity. It said access to new medicines was also much slower in Ireland than in other European countries.
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The society urged the Government to provide at least €20 million extra for the national cancer strategy in next week’s budget to address the current deficits in cancer research and services.
“Without access to clinical trials, patients are missing out on access to new medicines and other interventions that may work better for them than the current standard of care generally available in Ireland,” said the society’s chief executive Averil Power.
“Ireland is missing out on the opportunity to get new medicines for free from the pharmaceutical industry.
“And our researchers and doctors are missing out on the opportunity to take part in international studies that are essential to finding new and better ways to prevent, detect and treat cancer.”
Ms Power said “proper investment in the national cancer strategy” would be needed if Ireland was to catch up with better-performing countries.
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“To date, the national cancer strategy has been underfunded by €180 million, leaving cancer patients waiting. Waiting for time-critical tests, waiting for essential treatment, waiting for clinical trials and waiting for the support they need to rebuild their lives after cancer.”
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