Needs and PIPs by therapeutic classes: Oncology

Abstract

Childhood cancer affects 12,000 new patients/year in Europe with more than 60 different malignancies. To date, the overall cure rate at 5 years is around 80% in Europe [1] and U.S. [2], with a powerful increase as compared to the cure rates accessible 15 years ago. Although cancer in children is a rare condition, being only 1% of all cancers, it remains the first cause of death in children older than 1 year; still, 3,000 deaths are reported every year. Accordingly, paediatric cancer still represents a therapeutic need and new efficient treatments must be developed, regardless the present cure rates allow to figure out that one adult aged from 16 to 45 years out of 900 individuals has been cured by cancer during childhood [3].