Helping more people access cancer treatment
Equitable Oncology has launched to help more people benefit from advances in cancer treatment by bringing together science, philanthropy, and collaboration.
The new registered charity will focus on how innovative cancer therapies are developed and funded so cost and access are considered alongside scientific excellence from the outset.
The research of AUT Emeritus Professor Stephen Henry, co-funded by AUT through Kode Biotech, has led to the first clinical programme being advanced through the Equitable Oncology Model - K5K.
- K5K is an immunotherapy ready to progress to human clinical trials once funding is secured.
- It is based on the underlying Kode Immuno-Educer (KIE) platform, developed over more than three decades of scientific research
- KIE has been applied in earlier-generation human clinical programmes and a third-generation veterinary oncology programme.
How will more people be able to access cancer treatments?
From the outset, K5K has been designed with affordability and accessibility. Its design includes:
- A target treatment cost of less than USD $5,000 per course
- Stability at temperatures above 40°C, reducing the need for refrigeration and making treatment easier to store and deliver in different healthcare settings.
The organisation’s Chair, Rob Campbell,says advances in cancer treatment are creating extraordinary opportunities, but ensuring those advances translated into better outcomes for more people remains an important equity challenge.
“Scientific advances are creating extraordinary opportunities to improve cancer care. Yet too many people still cannot benefit because treatments remain beyond their reach.
“Equitable Oncology will work collaboratively across research, healthcare, industry and philanthropy, so we have an opportunity to help ensure more people can benefit from advances in cancer treatment.”
How does the collaboration work?
The Equitable Oncology Model brings together researchers, clinicians, healthcare providers, industry, philanthropists, philanthropic organisations, governments, patients, and advocacy organisations around a shared purpose of helping more people access cancer treatment.
Philanthropic funding and strategic partnerships can support the advancement of cancer treatments while reducing the amount of development and related costs that may need to be recovered through treatment pricing.
Equitable Oncology’s Chief Executive, Christine Gill, says the approach has been established to address access much earlier in the development of innovative cancer treatments.
“Every day, people miss out on the opportunity to benefit from advances in cancer treatment. Often, not because the science doesn’t exist, but because treatment is too expensive or too difficult to access.
“The way a treatment is developed and funded influences who can benefit from it. By considering cost and access alongside scientific excellence from the outset, there is an opportunity to reduce barriers before they become embedded.”