Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Access to Oncology Medicines in Canada: Consensus Forum for Recommendations for Improvement

Sandeep Sehdev
* ORCID logo ,
Nigel S. B. Rawson
ORCID logo ,
Olexiy I. Aseyev
,
Catriona J. Buick
,
Marcus Butler
ORCID logo ,
Scott Edwards
,
Sharlene Gill
ORCID logo ,
Joanna Gotfrit
,
Cyrus C Hsia
ORCID logo ,
Rosalyn A. Juergens
ORCID logo ,
Mita Manna
ORCID logo ,
Joy McCarthy
,
Som D. Mukherjee*
,
Stephanie Snow
ORCID logo ,
Silvana Spadafora
,
David J. Stewart
,
Jason Wentzell
,
Ralph P.W Wong
,
Pawel Zalewski
Version 1 : Received: 13 February 2024 / Approved: 14 February 2024 / Online: 14 February 2024 (05:27:56 CET)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Sehdev, S.R.; Rawson, N.S.B.; Aseyev, O.I.; Buick, C.J.; Butler, M.O.; Edwards, S.; Gill, S.; Gotfrit, J.M.; Hsia, C.C.; Juergens, R.A.; Manna, M.; McCarthy, J.S.; Mukherjee, S.D.; Snow, S.L.; Spadafora, S.; Stewart, D.J.; Wentzell, J.R.; Wong, R.P.W.; Zalewski, P.G. Access to Oncology Medicines in Canada: Consensus Forum for Recommendations for Improvement. Curr. Oncol. 2024, 31, 1803-1816. Sehdev, S.R.; Rawson, N.S.B.; Aseyev, O.I.; Buick, C.J.; Butler, M.O.; Edwards, S.; Gill, S.; Gotfrit, J.M.; Hsia, C.C.; Juergens, R.A.; Manna, M.; McCarthy, J.S.; Mukherjee, S.D.; Snow, S.L.; Spadafora, S.; Stewart, D.J.; Wentzell, J.R.; Wong, R.P.W.; Zalewski, P.G. Access to Oncology Medicines in Canada: Consensus Forum for Recommendations for Improvement. Curr. Oncol. 2024, 31, 1803-1816.

Abstract

Patient access to new oncology drugs in Canada is only possible after navigating multiple sequential systemic checkpoints for national regulatory approval, health technology assessment (HTA) and collective government price negotiation. These steps delay access and prevent health care providers from being able to prescribe optimal therapy. Eighteen Canadian oncology clinicians from the medicine, nursing and pharmacy professions met to develop consensus recommendations for defining reasonable government performance standards around process and timeliness to improve Canadian cancer patients’ access to best care. A modified Delphi methodology was used to confirm strong consensus on 30 questions involving five themes: accountability, disparities, endpoints, timeliness, and cost-effectiveness. It was agreed that greater transparency is required across regulatory and HTA processes. Health professionals in oncology are frustrated for their patients because they are unable to deliver the modern guideline-supported therapies they want to provide due to delays in approval or funding. Canadian patients and their health care providers request improvements in timely access to life-saving therapeutics in line with other countries. Clinicians expect urgent improvements in our health systems to give our patients their best chance of survival.

Keywords

oncology drugs; health technology assessment; drug prices; drug access; Canada

Subject

Medicine and Pharmacology, Oncology and Oncogenics

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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