ESMO’s Mission on Access to Cancer Medicines and Technologies
ESMO is committed to ensure that all cancer patients have equal access to optimal cancer care
Access to Cancer Medicines and Technologies
ESMO Scale for Clinical Actionability of Molecular Targets (ESCAT)
A framework to rank genomic alterations as targets for cancer precision medicine.
Accessibility and Availability of Medicines and Technologies
Learn more about ESMO’s studies on the accessibility and availability of anti-cancer medicines, biomolecular technologies and opioids for cancer pain management.
Shortages of Inexpensive Essential Medicines
The shortages of inexpensive essential medicines are a growing public health emergency. Learn more about ESMO’s work on this topic.
ESMO Cancer Medicines Committee
The Cancer Medicines Committee, established in 2015, is committed to improving access to affordable medicines for cancer patients worldwide.
Dissemination of ESMO’s Work on Access to Medicines and Technologies
Keep up to date with the latest ESMO publications and resources on access to medicines, technologies and opioids for pain management and make sure you don’t miss anything!
Sessions on access to cancer medicines and technologies
ESMO Asia Congress 2024
ESMO Congress 2024
- Special session, ESMO-MCBS: A practical tool with public health implications
- Patient Advocacy session, Challenges in access to new oncology medicines
- Public Policy session, Immunotherapy: New indications, hopes and perspectives
- Educational session, Can pragmatic clinical trials and optimisation of treatments support development, access and value?
- Mini Oral session, Policy and preventive strategies
ESMO Asia Congress 2023
- Educational Session, ‘Levelling up’: Reducing inequalities in outcomes through the use of global standards.
ESMO Congress 2023
- Educational Session, Making essential cancer drugs affordable. Listen to key insights of the sessions from the speakers here.
- E-Poster, Providing access to anticancer drugs within an armed conflict: The experience of Mission Kharkiv (MK) and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Ukraine
- E-Poster, Improving access to breast cancer diagnosis and treatment through navigation: Evaluation of a one-year pilot project in Botswana
- E-Poster, The DRUP-like clinical trials family: A distributed European trial network for equitable access to precision medicine
- E-Poster, Improving access to molecular tumour boards for complex genomic profiles: A healthcare policy from the Netherlands
ESMO Congress 2022
- Educational session, WHO pricing guidelines to improve access to medicines
- E-poster, The main challenges and potential solutions to improving patient access to oncology combination therapies in Europe
- Mini oral session, Actual patient access to innovative medicines in six European countries
- Mini oral session, New oncologic drugs since 2010: Differences in approval and access between the United States, Europe and Brazil
ESMO Asia Congress 2021
ESMO Congress 2021
- Mini oral session - Public policy, Improving cancer care through broader access to quality biomarker testing: An IQN Path, ECPC and EFPIA initiative
- Special session, WHO access to meaningful medicines
ESMO Virtual Congress 2020
- E-Poster Display, Happy wedding? Access and availability of oncology combination medicines
- Mini Oral - Public policy, A comparative study on costs of cancer and access to medicines in Europe
- E-Poster Display, Survey of challenges in access to diagnostics and treatment for neuroendocrine tumour (NET) patients (SCAN): Healthcare quality evaluation
ESMO Congress 2019
- Proffered Paper - Public policy, Consistency of ESMO-MCBS scores with drug access recommendations in Catalonia
ESMO Congress 2018
- Poster Discussion session - Public health policy
- Colloquium, Are biosimilars the key to access, in practice?
- Colloquium, Oncology biosimilars in Asia
ESMO Congress 2017
- Special session, The incoming wave of biosimilars in oncology
- Event report, Preparing for the Incoming Wave of Oncology Biosimilars
- Colloquium, The incoming wave of oncology Biosimilars, in Asia
Publications on biosimilar
- Published in ESMO Open in 2019, Knowledge and use of biosimilars in oncology: a survey by the European Society for Medical Oncology
- Published in ESMO Open in 2017, The ESMO position paper on biosimilars in oncology: enhancing the provision of accurate education and information
- Published in ESMO Open in 2016, Biosimilars: a position paper of the European Society for Medical Oncology, with particular reference to oncology prescribers
- Infographic for patients with cancer, ESMO Infographic Understanding Biosimilars for Cancer Patients
Publications on shortages of medicines
- Published in 2019 in the Lancet Oncology, ESMO comment on Shortages of Inexpensive Essential Medicines
- Published in 2017 by The Economist Intelligence Unit supported by the European Society for Medical Oncology: Cancer medicines shortages in Europe Policy recommendations to prevent and manage shortages
Publications on access to medicines and technologies
- Published in 2023 in ESMO Open, Essential cancer medicines: adding feasibility to the magnitude of clinical benefit value chain
- Published in 2023 in Annals of Oncology, ESMO Study on Availability and Accessibility to Biomolecular Technologies in Oncology in Europe
- Published in 2021 in Annals of Oncology, Access to essential anticancer medicines for children and adolescents in Europe - Annals of Oncology
- Published in 2019 in ESMO Open, Cancer medicines in Asia and Asia-Pacific: What is available, and is it effective enough?
- Published in 2019 on the ESMO website, Understanding Biosimilars for cancer patients
- Published in 2018 in Annals of Oncology, European Society for Medical Oncology position paper on supportive and palliative care
- Published in 2017 in Annals of Oncology, ESMO International Consortium Study on the availability, out-of-pocket costs and accessibility of antineoplastic medicines in countries outside of Europe
- Published in 2016 in Annals of Oncology, ESMO European Consortium Study on the availability, out-of-pocket costs and accessibility of antineoplastic medicines in Europe
- Published in ESMO Open in 2016, Biosimilars: a position paper of the European Society for Medical Oncology, with particular reference to oncology prescribers
- Published in 2013 in Annals of Oncology, The Global Opioid Policy Initiative (GOPI) project to evaluate the availability and accessibility of opioids for the management of cancer pain in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East
- Published in 2010 in Annals of Oncology, Formulary availability and regulatory barriers to accessibility of opioids for cancer pain in Europe: a report from the ESMO/EAPC Opioid Policy Initiative
Publications in collaboration with the World Health Organisation
- Published in ESMO Open in 2022, Prioritising systemic cancer therapies applying ESMO’s tools and other resources to assist in improving cancer care globally: the Kazakh experience and the related editorial WHO-ESMO collaboration in cancer control: policies into action to save lives
- Published in 2018 in ESMO Open, Global cancer control: responding to the growing burden, rising costs and inequalities in access
- Published in ESMO Open in 2016, ESMO and WHO: 14 years of working in partnership on cancer control
- Published in ESMO Open in 2016, Back to the 'essence' of medical treatment in oncology: the 2015 WHO Model List of Essential Medicines
Publications on off-label use of cancer medicines
- Published in ESMO Open in 2022, Off-label despite high-level evidence: a clinical practice review of commonly used off-patent cancer medicines
- Published in Annals of Oncology in 2007, The off-label use of drugs in oncology: a position paper by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)