While it welcomes the reported 340 million pounds (445.7 million euros) increase in cancer drugs funding following the recent review by the National Health Service (NHS) Cancer Drugs Fund, the British Institute of Radiology (BIR) is also calling for higher radiotherapy funding.
Funding for advanced radiotherapy techniques falls far behind that of chemotherapy, despite radiotherapy curing more patients than chemotherapy alone and its involvement in 40% of cases where cancer is cured, the BIR said in a statement. Furthermore, radiotherapy is utilized as the primary treatment in 16% of patients who are cured of their cancer, while chemotherapy is the primary treatment modality in only 2% of these patients, according to the organization.
The BIR is therefore calling for an increase in radiotherapy funding alongside that of complex chemotherapy drugs.
