OBJECTIVES: The number of approved cancer treatments in Europe has steadily increased in the past decade, yet it is unclear if all cancer patients benefited equally from innovation. This study attempts to understand if innovation in cancer treatments match the level of unmet need in Europe.

METHODS: Branded medicines (authorized, non-generic, non-biosimilar) approved for a cancer by the EMA until June 2022, were extracted from the online list of European public assessment reports. Incidence data from 2020 (GLOBOCAN) and the average 5-year survival rates from 2019 (NORDCAN) for the 20 most incident cancers, were used as proxies for the unmet need. Descriptive and univariate analyses were performed between the number of approved treatments and the epidemiological data for each cancer.

RESULTS: A total of 162 unique branded medicines were approved between 1995 and June 2022 across the 20 cancers with the highest European incidence. Most treatments (117) were approved for one cancer, while 45 were approved for more than one. Lung cancer had the most treatments approved for a single cancer (10). Univariate analysis revealed a significant and positive correlation between number of approvals and cancer incidence. In contrast, no correlation between number of approvals and 5-year survival was found. Lung cancer has the highest number of approvals and is the fourth most incidence cancer, however it has the fourth lowest 5 year-survival. The cancer with the lowest 5-year survival is pancreatic cancer, scoring seventh in incidence, and totaling four approved treatments. The most incidence cancer is breast cancer, cumulating 22 approvals and ranking fourth best in 5-year survival.

CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that the number of EMA approvals of innovative cancer drugs is partly driven by incidence but not by 5-year survival.