Experts discussed the availability of innovative medicines in the treatment of oncohematological diseases at the press conference “Oncohematology: to act instead of putting off.” The event was organized by the Russian Society of Oncogematologists and the Association of Oncologists of Russia.
“Modern hematology is a branch of medicine which can be proud of its recent success. From the analysis of the fate of patients it is seen that the modern therapeutic approach increases survival by three or more times. Now we have monoclonal antibodies in our arsenal, and they give a chance for successful treatment of most patients in a difficult clinical situation. These ensure an unprecedentedly high efficiency, and in some cases full recovery is achieved. I have every reason to assert that oncohematology is a successfully developing area of modern medicine. In this area, the achievements of fundamental science are introduced and new drugs appear very quickly,” said Irina Poddubnaya, Doctor of Sciences in Medicine, professor, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Chairman of the Russian Society of Hematology, Head of Department of the Savitsky Oncology and Palliative Medicine of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution Russian Medical Academy of Continuing Professional Education of the Russian Ministry of Health.
The participants of the event discussed the pathway of innovative medicines to the patient. It was announced that if the drug is not included in the clinical recommendations of the Scientific Council of the Ministry of Health, then it cannot be used for treatment outside federal centers.
“The issue of clinical recommendations is not that fast. It takes time. Drug registration is now faster, but their inclusion in clinical recommendations takes longer than it looks. Our professional community had a discussion recently on the need to include new drugs in clinical recommendations with a footnote stating that the drug is being prepared for registration, as a certain period of time will pass before the recommendations are published,” said Gayane Tumyan, Doctor of Sciences in Medicine, Head of Hemoblastosis Chemotherapy Department of the N.N. Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center. – “Innovative drugs are expensive, which is why they should be quickly included in the VED list. This makes producers adjust their prices so that they become lower. And only in this case the drug becomes available to the regions.”
The discussion touched upon the topic of treatment of patients with oncohematological diseases in the Russian regions. Liliia Matveeva, the President of Sodeistviie, the All-Russian Society of Oncohematology, noted that drug provision to patients have improved.
“Most patients face problems. It would be wrong not to mention the improvement achieved in recent years. But, we have to state that only about 30-40% of patients are provided with care and treatment with innovative drugs. Yes, this is much more than 3-5% that we had five years ago. But regional hospitals do not always have opportunities to provide assistance according to clinical recommendations. This is primarily due to financing. And oncohematological diseases require treatment here and now,” Matveeva said.
Malignant neoplasms of lymphatic and hematopoietic tissue account for 5.7% of cancer diagnoses. Oncohematological diseases are among the top five most prevalent in the country after breast cancer (18,5%), uterus cancer (7%), prostate cancer (6.8%) and colon cancer (6%), according to the Bulletin of the Moscow Oncology Research Institute named after Herzen, a branch of FSBI NMRC of Radiology Of the Ministry of Health, “the State of Cancer Care in Russia in 2020.”
