22/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - In a study published on 16 January, Doctor Nils Wilking (Karlinska Institutet Stockholm) and Professor Bengt Jönsson (Stockholm School of Economics) note that there is a great gap between EU member states when it comes to treatment and the cost of treatment of cancer patients. According to the study, financed by the EFPIA, the federation on the research-based pharmaceutical industry in Europe, the inequalities and gaps in survival of cancer patients are particularly noticeable when comparing Eastern Europe with Northern and Western Europe. For example, in Sweden 60.3% of men and 61.7% of women diagnosed with cancer survive compared to only 37.7% of men and 49.3% of women in the Czech Republic. According to the study, patients in Austria and France have the broadest access to newer cancer treatments, while Poland, the Czech and the UK continue to lag behind. The authors of the report recommend speeding up the introduction of new treatments as, in Europe, 1.2 million people died of cancer in 2006. (O.J./transl.jl)