Treatment Approvals in Oncology and Relationship with Improvement in 5-Year Relative Survival for Cancer Patients in Europe

OBJECTIVES: Over the last two decades, numerous new cancer treatments have been approved in Europe, yet it is still unclear to what extent new approvals have contributed to the relative survival of cancer patients across the EU. This study aims to understand the relationship between the number of approvals of new cancer treatments and 5-year relative survival for patients in Europe over the period 1995-2014.

METHODS: For selected high incidence cancer types (lung, breast, colon, prostate, melanoma, lymphoma and ovarian cancer) all branded, authorized, non-generic, non-biosimilar medicines that have been approved by the EMA from 1995-2014 were extracted from the online list of European public assessment reports (EPAR). The 5-year survival rates across countries in Europe from 1995-2014 were extracted from existing global surveillance studies (CONCORD-2 and CONCORD-3). Descriptive and univariate analyses were performed between the number of approved new treatments and the relative survival from1995-2014 in 5-year intervals. The analysis excluded those countries inducted into the EU after 1995. Sub analyses testing the addition of new EU members and controlling for economic growth via GDP-per-capita were also performed.

RESULTS: 59 drugs were approved by the EMA from 1995-2014. Over the 7 oncology areas examined, a significant relationship between the number of drug approvals in a 5-year period and the relative survival during the same period was found for lung (p = 0.0280) and colon cancer (p = 0.0231). The number of approvals showed no significant relationship with relative survival in breast, prostate, melanoma, lymphoma, and ovarian cancer. (p = 0.0508, p= 0.4090, p = 0.4750, p = 0.1673, p = 0.0969, respectively)

CONCLUSIONS: These findings point to a relationship between the number of drug approvals and survival gains for lung and colon cancer. This warrants further analysis on how the breadth and diversity in approved cancer treatments affects gains in patient survival.