BRUSSELS, 17 November: Leading MEPs and EU health officials joined academics and patient advocates this week in a call for earlier and better access to modern health care, urging a European catch-up in taking advantage of the options that are already available, and widely used in other advanced economies.
At a meeting in the European Parliament on 14 November they gave their backing to a Manifesto that encourages the adoption of early diagnosis, deploying innovations like Next Generation Screening, liquid biopsy, and smart use of health data.
Lawmakers prominent in the current discussions of EU health legislation – including Tomislav Sokol, Sara Cerdas, Stelios Kympouropoulos, Nicolae Ştefănuță , Tonie Manders– discussed how the practice of medicine can gain by shifting the emphasis away from costly late-stage treatment and instead embracing pre-emptive action, prudent prevention, and alerts to personal health management.
The merits of the approach were also recognised by officials from the European Medicines Agency and the European Commission.
Europe lags in adopting the techniques that can identify disease early, and it is overlooking the benefits to patients from rapid intervention.
The Manifesto, launched by the European Alliance for Personalised Medicine, argues that neglecting these opportunities will damage the health of European citizens now, and the health of upcoming generations in the years ahead.
The chance should not be overlooked when it can save lives and reduce suffering, and at the same time ease the strains that late-stage treatment imposes on healthcare systems, underlined Denis Horgan, EAPM executive director.
“This is a real area of unmet need,” he said.
A double-deficit is faced by European patients, both because of delays in adopting innovation, and because of the longstanding inequalities of access across the EU, said Horgan, pointing to the continuing obstacles to cross-border health and the limitations from divergent and inconsistent data rules.
Efforts are being made to overcome the barriers, in the EU institutions, in the Cancer Mission or the Beating Cancer Plan, and in EU-funded multistakeholder initiatives such as CAN.HEAL (https://uncan.eu), BEACON (https://www.ieo.it/beaconproject/) and UNCAN (https://uncan.eu), which are building momentum. But EU ambition and support must be maintained and developed and expanded if the strategy for health and healthcare is to realise its potential and recognise the opportunities that are being neglected.
With Europe heading into a crucial election year at a time of multiple crises at home and globally, political parties can choose to grasp an opportunity to secure a major win for citizens by recognising – and championing – the great potential of technical advances in health. The tools are increasingly available. What is missing is the policy framework to permit their use at scale, and sufficient shared political will to create that framework.
As Horgan remarked as he concluded the meeting, “Advanced healthcare is being overlooked like Cinderella in the fairy story. But this is no fairy-story. And for the sake of European patients, it is time that Cinderella was taken to the ball.”
