One in two men and one in three women will one day be diagnosed with cancer or a severely debilitating illness. Research has made considerable progress in recent years, but most treatments originate in the United States where, ironically, they are often developed by European researchers. But faced with massive budget cuts and the Trump administration’s isolationist policy, many researchers are now fleeing to the Old Continent. Europe now has the opportunity to develop better access to the most advanced treatments. But how can this be achieved? Is it possible to adapt the American system to the European one whilst retaining our fundamental principle of equal access to healthcare?
Since his return to the White House, Donald Trump has put pressure on Europe to pay more for medicines, the prices of which are regulated by our European healthcare systems. But with it now costing an average of $2.2bn to develop a new drug, most new drugs are funded privately in America and often only accessible to patients with high incomes.
We follow European researchers on both sides of the Atlantic who are fighting to advance biomedical research. Amidst economic constraints, industrial challenges and political agendas, they strive to reconcile medical innovation with the preservation of one of the principles of the Hippocratic Oath: medicine accessible to all.
Against this backdrop lies the crucial question of access to treatment. Patients’ journeys highlight what is at stake behind the scenes in this industry: the hope of accessing life-saving therapies.