In what is called the path of the cancer patient, i.e. the entire course from the diagnosis onwards, different times are recorded for each patient, emphasized the Michalis Liontospathologist-oncologist, pointing out that “on this path we want to intervene and better treat the cancer patient today in our country”.

As he explained, “the stage the cancer is in is the most important prognostic factor of a patient” so prevention remains a big bet. The information and knowledge of the population is a very important element, he emphasized and added: “Unfortunately, cancer can be aggressive from the beginning, but also in every cancer, time counts. It may not be a medical issue with the emergency procedure, today it is diagnosed and tomorrow it has to be operated on, but it is important to start treatment early.” It is estimated that every four weeks of delay in starting treatment reduces the chances of survival by 10%, Mr Liontos concluded.

In her intervention, speaking about the value of biomarkers in the treatment of cancer, the professor of Pathology at the University of Patras Eleni Kourea he said among other things that there are three kinds of biomarkers which are detected in blood and tissues. “It’s the diagnostics, the prognosticators that tell us how the cancer will go, and the predictive biomarkers that tell us which patient will respond to which treatment. The latter are perhaps the most important.” As he pointed out, predictive biomarkers are key to oncology and therapy. Today it is estimated that 25% of cancers have a biomarker for treatment and 70 drugs have a biomarker session. In fact, as he explained, “every year five to six new drugs will have a biomarker” emphasizing their value for the oncologist. In closing, he explained that the cost of biomarkers in relation to cancer treatments is minimal.

From the treatment evaluation committee, the professor of Adolescent Medicine Flora Bakopoulou he referred to the European context, stressing that now “all medicines and medical devices will be evaluated for their effectiveness in the fight against cancer”. This, he argued, will improve access to innovative drugs, there will be better clinical trial data and strengthen transnational collaborations in the field of cancer. Among other things, he added that 1,260 drugs have already been evaluated by the Greek evaluation committee and 15% of these drugs are anticancer. Only 10 drugs have not yet been evaluated, he added, and pointed out that in 2023 the time for evaluating a new drug by the committee was reduced to one month.

From the Medicines Negotiating Committee, its non-executive chairperson Nadia Gogozotou pointed out that this committee is one of the key tools to keep the system viable. “It is the common line of both the ministry and the committee that every patient has the medicine they need. But in order to do this in an era with very expensive treatments, it must be done not at the expense of the state but also of the companies,” he said and talked about the goal of the closed budget which will reach 1.2 billion as he predicted. “The closed budgets limit the expenditure and all this is done to leave room for innovative products and new medicines” he explained, adding that therapeutic protocols are needed as well as the use of biomarkers in the treatment of cancer.

“40% of cancers today are related to the population’s exposure to risk factors” pointed out the professor of Health Economics Kostas Athanasakis, emphasizing that early intervention must be done and start from prevention. “Another question is whether we can convince citizens to participate in the screening programs” he noted, adding that the third and important one is how early we move to cancer treatments in our country. Referring to a recent study done by his group over the last decade, he said that cancer deaths might have been reduced by 22% if treatments were better managed and there was greater and more rational access to innovative drugs.

“The opportunity for the patient is early, the earlier the better the prognosis, there must be a plan from the beginning and a team ready to treat the patient holistically pointed out in his placement, the Ilias Athanasiadisoncologist at Mitera hospital.

Referring to the biomarkers he said that “they are the recognition of the identity of the tumor, so they are necessary for the identification of the disease. A mistake in biomarkers multiplies the mistakes we will make later.” As he pointed out, finally, the biggest problem today is the lack of human resources in our country, as some specialties, such as oncologists, are not sufficient for the needs of the population.