Patient access – Zugang zu Innovationen in der Onkologie

Abstract

Compared to other European countries, Germany has a large number of innovative therapy options for the treatment of patients with cancer. Currently, the main challenge in care is to be able to offer these options at the right time to all patients, regardless of their place of residence and treatment setting, who could benefit from innovative therapies. Clinical trials are often the first opportunity for controlled access to oncology innovation. Reducing bureaucratic processes and increasing transparency about currently recruiting trials is imperative to allow more patients early access across sectors. The concept of decentralized clinical trials and (virtual) molecular tumor boards is also appropriate to allow more patients potential trial inclusion. The best possible use of a growing number of innovative and cost-intensive diagnostic and therapeutic options for a wide variety of patient-specific situations requires low-threshold transsectoral exchange, i.e., communication between (certified) oncological competence centers and physicians across the broad spectrum of medical care, who are expected to simultaneously treat the large number of German cancer patients in everyday care and cover the entire range of the increasingly complex oncological therapy landscape. DIFFERENT ACCESS IN THE REGIONS: The overdue implementation of digital options for cross-sector collaboration is an absolute prerequisite for giving patients who live farther away from a competence or study center access to innovations that are not available at their place of residence or treatment. OPTIMIZED ACCESS TO INNOVATIVE CARE: The development and testing of new forms of care requires the participation of all those responsible for the care process in order to jointly improve structural conditions, create sustainable incentives and provide the necessary capacities. The basis for this is an ongoing, concerted provision of evidence on the care situation, e.g. in the context of statutory cancer registration and clinical registries at oncology centers.