Bulletin du cancer
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The offer of anti-cancer drugs has recently been disrupted by the introduction of checkpoint inhibitors on the market. Currently, one anti-CTLA-4, two anti-PD-1 and two anti-PD-L1 are authorized in the European Union, in seven different types of cancer. The clinical development of these therapies is still in full swing: in July 2017, more than 1 500 clinical trials were evaluating anti-PD-1, anti-PD-L1 and anti-CTLA-4 drugs in about twenty different locations and this number continues to increase. ⋯ In addition, the expenses associated with ipilimumab, nivolumab and pembrolizumab are substantial and almost tripled in one year, going from 120 million euros in 2015 to more than 340 million euros in 2016. This raises the question of the ability of the current healthcare system to maintain equitable access to innovation and best treatments for all patients. For all these reasons, the French National Cancer Institute decided to dedicate its thematic annual report on these innovative immunotherapies, targeting in particular checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T cells, in order to produce an inventory of current data and an analysis regarding the different issues associated with these therapies.