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Lithuanian Society for Medical Oncology

The main goals of the society are: 1) to promote the integration process of oncology and tumor drug therapy, science, training and practical implementation, 2) to unite and coordinate the forces of medical oncologists and other medical specialities of the Republic of Lithuania to achieve progress in treatment of oncological diseases, 3) to help the members of the society to raise their professional training, 4) to promote the prevention of oncological diseases, 5) to provide suggestions, recommendations, information to the Ministry of Health of Lithuania, and other organizations on issues relevant to treatment of oncological diseases.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Pharmaceutical Strategy - Timely patient access to affordable medicines

7 Jul 2020

Lithuanian Society for Medical Oncology (LiSMO) response to the EU Pharmaceutical Strategy Consultation: Attachment I am Sigita Liutkauskiene The National Liaison and interlocutor between the LiSMO and ESMO. As the appointed Society representative, I am responsible for maintaining effective and timely lines of communication and project follow up. The LiSMO works closely with the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), a scientific society representing over 25,000 members from over 160 countries. ESMO’s work regarding inexpensive, essential medicines Medicines shortages: Shortages of inexpensive, essential medicines are a growing public health emergency that require concerted and collaborative action at the EU level. While there is a clear impact of medicines shortages on patient outcomes, their causes are complex and multifactorial and cannot be solved by any Member State alone. Given that the treatment of cancer patients is highly affected by the shortages of these inexpensive medicines, ESMO developed six reports on medicines shortages. The foundational report and five country profiles, done with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), indicated that no country is left untouched by the issue of inexpensive, essential medicines shortages. For more information: https://www.esmo.org/policy/shortages-of-inexpensive-essential-cancer-medicines • Cancer Medicines Shortages in Europe – policy recommendations to prevent and manage shortages: In May 2017, ESMO collaborated with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) to produce a report providing six concrete policy recommendations to address and mitigate shortages of inexpensive, essential medicines at the EU Level. The report was launched at the European Parliament, in May 2017, and since then has been presented at various meetings. • Five EU country profiles on medicines shortages: In April 2019, ESMO, in collaboration with the EIU, produced a set of reports describing the situation of cancer medicines shortages in five countries – Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Finland and Belgium. The profiles showed that the issue of shortages is severe across all EU countries. For more information: https://www.esmo.org/policy/shortages-of-inexpensive-essential-cancer-medicines • Call to Action: In April 2019, ESMO launched a Call to Action outlining key steps and calling for tangible political commitments to tackle inexpensive, essential medicines shortages in the EU. The document was signed by 20 Members of the European Parliament and 16 stakeholders. • Shortages of inexpensive, essential medicines (The Lancet Oncology): ESMO’s comment in The Lancet Oncology on the topic of inexpensive essential medicines shortages (April 2019), notes the need to address both aspects of shortages: the insufficient access to promising new compounds and low supply of good, old, inexpensive essential medicines. This is crucial to ensure equal access to optimal (cancer) care. ESMO’s work regarding expensive, innovative medicines Given that access to affordable medicines is key to achieving sustainable cancer care, ESMO continues to address the topic at the European and global levels by developing tools and resources: • Prioritizing cancer medicines – the ESMO-MCBS: The ESMO-MCBS is a tool, assessing EMA-approved medicines, for a rational and structured approach to derive a relative ranking of the Magnitude of Clinically Meaningful Benefit of anti-cancer treatment. This is a tool that helps to assess the value of cancer care and prioritize medicines and also address the challenges of the appropriate use of limited resources to deliver cost-effective and affordable cancer care. It is being used by various countries across the world to prioritize cancer medicines. With the incoming wave of high-cost treatments in similar settings for cancer, there is a need to allow EU Member States to choose medicines appropriately, including the use of biosimilars. For a concrete example of countries using the
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