Patients in cancer trials saved State €6.5m
Prof Seamus O’Reilly and Dr Tracey O'Donovan working in the Western Gateway Building, UCC. Picture: Darragh Kane
The State saved €6.5m on cancer medicines when hundreds of patients opted for trials last year, with their costs covered by trial sponsors, Cancer Trials Ireland will say today.
One leading Cork oncologist said: “Today we could be doing so much more to get more trials up and running here."
Typically, trial costs, including medicines and scans, are paid for in full by a trial sponsor.
This new Value of Cancer Trials 2 report analysed cost savings on medicines for a sample of 38 cancer trials involving 230 patients between September last year and August this year.
Inward investment of €6.76m by pharmaceutical companies followed from 20 of those trials.
During that year overall, some 3,938 patients took part in cancer trials. As of this week, about 160 cancer trials are open across Ireland.
The report said that while trial numbers grew between 2024 and last year, Ireland still only ranks 14th out of 27 EU states for the number of trials per head of population.
This contrasts with other smaller countries such as Denmark, which see far more activity in this area.
Meanwhile, a separate survey found that 70% of people are willing to take part in a clinical trial , a jump of 21% since 2020. It also found that 82% are willing to donate blood and 64% to donate tissue samples.
Some 75% would take part in a trial to help others and 50% to improve their own health. Some 35% would do this for a longer life and 32% to get access to new treatment first.
The survey of 1,000 people across Ireland was conducted last July.
Professor Seamus O’Reilly, clinical lead for Cancer Trials Ireland and an oncologist at Cork University Hospital, said: “We know that cancer clinical trials lead to improved patient outcomes."
He called for more investment in this, saying it benefits the patients, and the State gets a financial benefit while the health service also benefits.
“However, today we could be doing so much more to get more trials up and running here,” he said.
“In addition to tackling issues such as protected research time, security of tenure for research staff, and the streamlining of processes, I think it is also key that the health service be given targets for trials.”
He pointed to key performance indicators which doctors must meet in their work.
“Equally, our health system also needs a similar KPI to allow transparency regarding equity of access to trials, to enable us to identify barriers and facilitators to that access, and to emphasise to all stakeholders that clinical trials are an integral, outcome-improving aspect of cancer care, and a necessary component of how we care for patients with cancer in Ireland,” he said.
Cancer Trials Ireland chief executive Angela Clayton-Lea welcomed the “ever-increasing public trust” in trials seen in the survey.
However, she said just 2.9% of cancer patients took part in interventional trials last year, and this is “less than half the national target”.
“Improvements have been made when it comes to streamlining administrative issues such as contracting, governance, insurance, and site readiness — and there is more to do,” she said.
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