The innovation brings spectacular results, in particular in the treatment of cancer. But these new drugs are expensive and our health care system is struggling to absorb the costs. As a result, some treatments cannot be prescribed in France while they are available in other countries. A real loss of luck for the sick. The first program “La Santé en Question” opens the debate on this subject.
Health is advancing at full speed. The largest world congress in oncology, that of the American Society Of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) which was held from 1er on June 5, 2018 in Chicago, alone brings much hope. We now know how to treat cancer with drugs which bring about spectacular improvements in the state of health of patients, which prolong or ensure their survival. But these innovative treatments, resulting from incessant research and the implementation of the most advanced techniques, are expensive, very expensive.
Our health system has given itself the means to deal with this phenomenon of efficient but costly innovation. The agencies, European and French, which issue the marketing authorizations for drugs agree to prioritize efficacy over risks in order to accelerate the availability of these products for those who suffer and whose lives are in danger. peril. In France, a system supervised by the government, the “extra list”, even allows hospitals to benefit from the reimbursement of some of these products, the cost of which is greater than the flat rate for patient care.
“Cancer: Therapeutic innovation or loss of chance?”
But there are loopholes. The editorial staff of Pourquoi Docteur was alerted to a poignant case, that of a woman suffering from cancer and saved, after the failure of chemotherapy, by immunotherapy … treatment for which reimbursement must cease and which can no longer be prescribed within a few weeks! After hope, incomprehension, even anger, today inhabits this patient who brings a moving testimony. This is what motivated the Pourquoi Docteur and Fréquence Médicale teams in choosing the theme “Cancer: Therapeutic innovation or loss of luck?” for this first program “La Santé en Questions”.
Can we deprive patients of everything that can help them live better or recover because the cost of this care is too heavy for our care system? The object is not to denounce, to designate those responsible or culprits. Faithful to their editorial line, “understand in order to act”, the editorial staff of Pourquoi Docteur et Fréquence Médicale expose the facts, give a voice to patients, doctors and health officials, point out undoubtedly avoidable dysfunctions in order to open a essential debate.
Our health care system is well worth such a debate. Renowned and appreciated, it cannot afford to deprive its practitioners of all the means to succeed at the heart of their mission, to treat and save lives. France cannot accept the delay that it is taking in this area compared to its European neighbors. It cannot allow a two-tier system to take hold where the privileged could benefit elsewhere from care that cannot be provided to them here. No one could understand that access for all patients to the best that medicine can provide them is not at the heart of the French idea of equality and justice.
.
