According to Mr. Peterle, “it is strongly important to continue with such meetings in order to raise the public, but primarily the political awareness on important issues such the access to new treatments”. He thanked Lung Cancer Europe for organizing this event and for promoting early diagnosis and equal chances for all patients, two important goals that require policy and decision makers must work together in order to respond these needs.

 

“Improving the access to medicines is indeed a multi-stakeholder responsibility”, as stated from Malvika Vyas, ESMO Head of Policy that added “major societies, including ESMO, share the will and the responsibility to lead the public policy debate on equitable access to anti-cancer therapies across borders”.

 

“This report will play a crucial role in informing the policy makers and we urge all supporting organizations in every country to use this report for making some changes in the national lung cancer environment”, declared Regine Deniel Ihlen, lung cancer survivor and LuCE treasurer.

 

This was an excellent opportunity to launch the calls for action. Stefania Vallone, LuCE’s President encouraged the attendees to give a step forward, and try working together to get improvement in access to innovative therapies and healthcare services, ensuring sustainability of different health-care systems and tackle the burden of this disease, offering more equal conditions to thousands of individuals across Europe affected by lung cancer. The call to action – LET´S REDUCE DISPARITIES: WHAT MUST WE DO? is focusing  on the following aspects:

This report aims to be a tool for different national and EU level stakeholders, used as a source of reliable data to show how  the problem is severe and how it requires to be addressed very soon.