Regine Deniel Ihlen (left), LuCE board member and lung cancer survivor, at European Cancer Forum in December 2018.

Regine Deniel Ihlen, Board member and lung cancer survivor, and Alfonso Aguarón, Project Manager of the organisation represented LuCE. The preliminary results from a new study by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), in which LuCE is playing a leading role, shown substantial variations in outcomes across Europe. The study concluded that better policies across the entire patient journey are needed to bring down the high number of deaths, particularly in areas of prevention and access to treatment and genetic testing.

To highlight the role of patient representatives, Mrs. Ihlen stated, “people living with lung cancer don’t have a voice in Europe, but they do have a wide vision of the issues around their needs.” She also added that “reducing mortality, fostering new treatments, advocate for a better access across Europe, improve diagnosis and raise awareness around lung cancer stigma” are they key challenges LuCE is working in.

For its part, Mr. Aguarón stated “LuCE goes beyond identifying the problems, but to become part of the solution as an equal stakeholder in the community, specially by help shaping proper health policies for the benefit of patients and their beloved ones”. He also had the chance to highlight some of the main challenges around clinical trials presented in the 3^rd LuCE report. “Around 80% of the current lung cancer clinical trials are being run in Italy, Germany, UK, Spain and France, and the vast majority of them focus on non-small cell lung cancer. These two facts lead into disparities for patients, so we think is time to act in order to redefine research priorities and strategies”.

Both concluded that change demands to unite strengths in order to generate strong evidence that can be taken into account by the European policymakers.