CANCER patients undergoing chemotherapy can now double their survival chance with individualised drug treatment but it might be a while before the method is widely used in Cyprus, doctors say.
This is good news given that one in three of us will develop cancer and one in four will die from it, according to local oncologist Pavlos Drakos talking yesterday at a press conference by the Greek Institute for Medical Research and Education.
Currently in Cyprus, drugs are generically administered without anticipating which are the most suitable for a specific person. By contrast, the new method tests for chemosensitivity: a drug’s effectiveness on individual patients’ live tumour tissue. And drugs are prescribed based on these results. This significantly increases survival rates both before and after chemotherapy. In some cases, such as those of lung cancer, patients’ five-year survival rate more than doubled, according to research cited yesterday.
However, at present cancer patients in Cyprus will have to personally pay €2,500 to send a sample for analysis in Athens.
Chemosensitivity testing is also more cost-effective in the long term, said John Kyriopoulos, dean of Greece’s National School of Public Health.
“Cancer often has disastrous financial consequences for people,” Kyriopoulos said, welcoming the development. Ovarian cancer treatment – at the equivalent of about €17,500 – would cost less than half it ordinarily would, he said.
Asked why Cypriot institutions had not adopted chemosensitivity testing, Drakos responded: “Individual [doctors] can choose to go abroad and get the needed training: we don’t currently have the necessary infrastructure for this in Cyprus.”
“These things take time… and state organisations seem to move more slowly than private ones,” Kyriopoulos said.
He was responding to a question on whether a National Health System (lacking in Cyprus) would help address this gap in treatment.
New technology is usually adopted by the private sector first before being adopted by the state, Kyriopoulos added.
Chemosensitivity testing is already part of British and German National Health Services and available in various countries in Europe and elsewhere.
