Policy dialogue on access to precision medicine in cancer

How can we ensure that advances in personalised medicine benefit cancer patients more quickly and in a more equitable way? This was the topic when around 30 stakeholders gathered for a policy dialogue.

Photo: Jorunn Valle Nilsen

How can patients gain better access to personalised cancer medicine?

Precision medicine challenges current models for approval, funding, and implementation of new treatments, as these therapies often target small patient groups and are based on more limited evidence than existing systems are designed for.

Against this backdrop, Cancer Mission Hub Norway and the CONNECT consortium brought together participants from research environments, healthcare providers, public authorities, industry, and patient organisations for a policy dialogue at the Norwegian Cancer Society’s Science Centre. The aim was to highlight challenges and identify possible joint solutions across sectors.

The dialogue is part of the hub’s work to follow up on the Norwegian cancer strategy and the European cancer initiative, as well as CONNECT’s efforts to accelerate the introduction of personalised cancer medicine in Norway. The European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies facilitated the dialogue. The Observatory is an international WHO partnership that gathers and analyses knowledge to support the development of more evidence-based health policy in Europe. The dialogue was conducted with support from the ECHoS project.

The policy dialogue was conducted as part of the ECHoS project, represented by Yasmin Fonseca and led by Florian Tille from the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Photo: Jorunn Valle Nilsen

Time for action

National and international experts opened the dialogue with presentations on barriers and opportunities, laying the foundation for further discussion. The event, held behind closed doors, allowed participants to freely share their perspectives on questions such as how Norway can make more active use of European collaboration, how new study designs and cross-border knowledge can improve the evidence base for decision-making, and how clinical uncertainty can be better managed when introducing new treatments.

There was broad agreement that we need arenas where actors with different roles and perspectives can meet, discuss shared challenges, and develop solutions together.

The policy dialogue demonstrated that there is both engagement and willingness to take this work forward. To ensure that more patients gain access to precision medicine, the next step must be to translate insights into concrete recommendations, priorities, and actions.

Engagement was high among the approximately 30 participants, representing research environments, healthcare providers, public authorities, industry, and patient organisations. Photo: Jorunn Valle Nilsen