Manxhuka B, Gustafsson A, Hofmarcher T

Patient access to treatment in advanced NSCLC – Are European health systems ready to measure what matters?

How good are European health systems in publishing real-world data (RWD) on quality indicators in cancer care? This report looks at the example of drug treatment rates in advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer (aNSCLC). It explores whether European health systems capture and publish reliable, up-to-date RWD on treatment rates in aNSCLC across 13 countries.

The review of published data on treatment rates in aNSCLC highlights a pronounced absence of reliable, comprehensive, up-to-date data. The lack of published data undermines the ability to evaluate the quality of care and adherence to treatment standards defined in international and national clinical guidelines.

Sweden and the UK are best-practice examples. They regularly publish data on treatment rates for the whole country. Yet even in these countries the published data are not detailed enough to get a full picture of the quality of treatment provided. Specific details regarding the types of cancer medicines administered to patients are not published.

The review of published RWD studies also shows that recent advances in the medical treatment of aNSCLC may not be fully utilized in clinical settings. It is common to observe an underuse of newer treatments options (immunotherapy and targeted therapy) and an overuse of older treatment options (chemotherapy) compared to recommendations in clinical guidelines. This finding confirms a key result in our previous IHE report 2022:2.

IHE REPORT 2024:5 IHE: Lund, Sweden