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UK lags Europe in uptake of new cancer drugs, study shows

The UK ranks eighth out of 14 nations in terms of its usage of innovative medicines, and plummets to 12th place when assessed on its uptake of cancer drug treatments introduced within the last five years, with only Canada and New Zealand doing worse, says a new report.

The UK is also second from bottom in terms of use of drugs to treat hepatitis B and multiple sclerosis study, according to the long-awaited study, by England's National Cancer Director, Professor Sir Mike Richards, which was published yesterday. However, the report also shows that the nation is in second place, behind Australia, for the use of statins to reduce cardiovascular disease, and second again (after Denmark) for usage of thrombolytics to treat acute myocardial infarction (MI).

Based on data from IMS Health, Sir Mike's study examined usage of 123 drugs in 14 countries across a range of therapy areas during April 2008-March 2009. 66 of the products are cancer treatments, and the study breaks the 14 nations' uptake of these products down further - into cancer drugs which have been on the market for up to five years, those which have been available for six to 10 years, treatments launched more than 10 years ago and cancer hormones.

Unsurprisingly, the USA ranks as overall leader of the 14 nations in terms of medicines uptake across all therapy areas, and individually in its use of antipsychotics and drugs to treat dementia, respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, the USA is also in 13th place not only for use of acute MI drugs but also for cancer hormones, for which only New Zealand has a worse record of use.

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