1、0 ACCESS TO ONCOLOGY COMBINATION THERAPIES IN EUROPE:MOVING FORWARD Medical Rationale Supporting Patient Access to Novel Oncology Combination Therapies March 2024 1 Contents 1.Introduction.2 2.Methodology.5 3.Combination therapies vs monotherapies:biological mechanisms.6 3.1.Current monotherapy onco

2、logy treatment approaches.6 3.2.Mechanistic advantages of combination therapies.7 4.Medical benefits of oncology combination therapies.9 5.Ongoing challenges for patient access:intervention is needed today.13 2 1.Introduction The cancer treatment landscape has undergone significant advances over rec

3、ent decades.1,2 Although all-cancer incidence rates have increased in recent years3,overall cancer mortality rates in Europe have seen a decline.4 For instance,the European Society for Medical Oncology(ESMO)projected a 6%decrease in cancer mortality rates in men and a 4%decrease in cancer mortality

4、rates in women in 2022,compared to mortality rates in 2017.5However,despite these advances,a high level of unmet need persists.In 2020,cancer was the second-leading cause of death in the EU,accounting for 23.0%of the total number of deaths in the EU.6 One reason for a high level of unmet need in som

5、e cancer patients is the susceptibility to drug resistance-related relapse during treatment with monotherapies and/or combinations containing chemotherapies.7,8,9 Considering this limitation,a new wave of novel oncology combination therapies(combination therapies composed of two or more innovative m

6、edicines used together)may be well-positioned to address these patients unmet needs.10,11 Given their unique benefits(such as a multi-pronged approach targeting different pathways and potential synergistic effects between the constituents),an increasing number of these novel combination therapies co