Lobbying Activity
Meeting with Ulla Schwager (Head of Unit Competition) and Johnson Johnson and
3 Dec 2025 · Exchange of views on developments in the pharmaceutical industry and aspects of competition law and policy enforcement in this industry sector
Response to Cancer Screening Recommendation
22 Feb 2022
Norgine is a European specialty pharmaceutical company with a rich heritage in the colonoscopy and colorectal cancer prevention space. Norgine welcomes the opportunity to feedback on the initiative of the European Commission for proposing an update to the 2003 Council Recommendation for cancer screening. This initiative is even more critical considering the huge impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the diagnosis and treatment of different cancers. In fact, cancer-screening programs including colorectal cancer have been reduced or stopped following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, which may lead to serious consequences such as disease progression, delayed treatment, and increased mortality. Norgine is enthusiastic to support the initiative of developing a new EU Cancer Screening Scheme that aims to ensure that by 2025, 90% of the target population is offered breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening.
Many positive steps have been taken within the EU since the Council of the EU issued recommendations on the principles of best practice in the early detection of cancer in 2003. As of 2020, 20 countries of the EU had implemented population-based screening programs and more countries continue to move towards gold-standard screening using the faecal immunochemical test (FIT) and accurate identification of polyps or adenomas by colonoscopy.
However, despite the 2003 Council Recommendation, inequalities in access to colorectal cancer screening mean many Europeans citizens have no access to screening programs. All member states should adopt gold-standard screening using colonoscopy in citizens aged 50 to 74 years as a high priority. Further, even when eligible for screening, uptake among citizens is low with participation <50% across Europe and only approximately 80% of citizens attending their follow-up appointment colonoscopy after positive pre-screening. The updated Council Recommendation should consider best-practices to ensure that effective implementation of population-based colorectal cancer screening programs.
Since 2003, many medical and technological advances have occurred. However, colonoscopy remains the gold standard in colorectal cancer screening. The updated recommendations should go further though and include use of quality standards as well as the importance of timely adoption of innovations (e.g. bowel preparations, distal attachments, artificial intelligence).
Additionally, an aging population and a rise in comorbidities mean greater uptake of screening will occur in the future. To meet this demand, training of additional healthcare professionals as well as ensuring health professionals are incentivised to meet quality standards and seek accreditation for colonoscopy provision is vital. The Council Recommendation should not ignore this issue.
Read full responseResponse to Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan
2 Mar 2020
The early detection and diagnosis of colorectal cancer is reliant on the provision of high-quality screening programs and access to colonoscopy services. For this reason, it is admirable that one of the key objectives of the Beating Cancer Plan is to improve the detection of cancer in the European Union (EU) with specific mention of increasing the coverage of the target population for colorectal cancer.
The clinical and economic burden of colorectal cancer is substantial. More than 150,000 Europeans die each year due to colorectal cancer, which is equivalent to 410 deaths per day [1]. Further, it is estimated that this will increase to approximately 206,000 deaths each year by 2035 [2]. This is despite evidence showing that if detected early, the 5-year relative survival is 90% [3]. In addition to the clinical burden, it is estimated that colorectal cancer costs €13 billion in direct and indirect costs in the EU each year [4].
Many positive steps have been taken within Europe since the Council of the EU issued recommendations on the principles of best practice in the early detection of cancer in 2003. As of 2018, 19 countries of the EU had implemented population-based screening programs [5] and more countries continue to move towards gold-standard screening using colonoscopy, usually followed by identification of at-risk individuals by the faecal immunochemical test (FIT).
However, despite this progress, inequalities in access to colorectal cancer screening exist across countries and many Europeans are excluded from screening programs. This is either because there is no screening program in their country or the program does not cover the target population. Further, screening uptake in many countries remains low, with participation <50% across Europe and only approximately 80% of citizens attending their initial colonoscopy after positive screening [5].
There is no question of the complexity and resource required to implement high quality preventative programs. This is why, in November 2018, Norgine hosted a policy roundtable, Preventing the preventable: the case of colorectal cancer, to look at the barriers to colonoscopy uptake. The roundtable identified the policy priorities required to prevent colorectal cancers deaths and improve access to colonoscopy in Europe; specifically:
• Education: Investment in healthcare professional training programmes focused on colonoscopy
• Equality of access: Formal screening programmes using gold-standard colonoscopy for all citizens between 50 and 74 years
• Capacity: Address the shortage of physicians/anaesthesiologists to ensure citizens have timely access to colonoscopy services
• Lack of incentives: Awareness campaign to overcome citizens’ misperceptions around colonoscopies and increase participation rate
To effectively combat colorectal cancer, Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan must be ambitious in addressing the underlying policy areas of education, capacity and access, and lack of incentives to ensure screening and colonoscopy is accessible for all targeted citizens in Europe.
Norgine is a European specialty pharmaceutical company with a rich heritage in the colonoscopy and colorectal cancer prevention space. Norgine welcomes the opportunity to feedback on Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and is enthusiastic to support the European Commission in this project.
References
[1] European Commission. Cancer statistics – specific cancers, 2018
[2] Digestive Health Group. Digestive Health Across Europe – Issues, challenges and inequalities, United European Gastroenterology, 2018
[3] National Cancer Institute. Cancer Stat Facts: Colorectal Cancer, 2019
[4] Luengo-Fernandez et al. Economic burden of cancer across the European Union: a population-based cost analysis, The Lancet Oncology, 2013
[5] European Commission. Cancer Screening in the European Union, 2017
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