Posts by tag
access
Do patents encourage or discourage innovation? Intellectual property from ancient Greece to the Covid pandemic
In October 2020, India and South Africa submitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO) a proposal for a waiver from certain provisions of the Trips agreement – the 1994 WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. The rationale…
Drugs shortages: ‘We parents of children with cancer are too exhausted to protest’
When it all started, Ioana Oprea did not have a spare moment to come to terms with what had happened ‒ to truly take in the fact that her son Teodor had a brain tumour. In the autumn of 2020,…
Most basic cancer drugs remain inaccessible in low- and lower-middle-income countries
Despite being available for more than 20 years, basic cancer drugs found to be most effective against the disease can still not be accessed by patients in most low- and lower-middle-income countries according to a new study. The paper, published…
Breast cancer surgery should be a job for certified specialists – an appeal
Many women, knowing they need surgery for breast cancer, are afraid of looking disfigured after their operation. The question, on day one, is how and where to find a specialist breast surgeon. Personal recommendations cannot always be relied on. Often,…
Berlin pilot project brings precision care to the peripheries
A decade ago, men with metastatic prostate cancer could typically expect to live two to three years. The arrival of new hormone drugs such as abiraterone radically changed the odds, and the equation is now changing every day, as trials…
Rare cancer care: Are European Reference Networks delivering on the promise?
What value can collaboration between EU member states add to the quality of care accessible to all EU citizens? It’s a question that has become urgent and topical with the coronavirus pandemic, and one that EU4Health, the EU’s new funding…
On a mission to beat cancer
One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind – the words Neil Armstrong pronounced as he completed humankind’s first mission to the moon, will – if the European Commission gets its way – soon be pronounced for other…