Endometrial cancer is such a very loud and vocal cancer, because we get the most patients when it comes to gynecological cancers. However, it has been neglected and unnoticed for years, because there were no solutions for it in the development of medicine," says Anna Kupiecka president of the OnkoCafe Foundation - Together Better. In Poland, a large group of patients still remain medically unattended, and treatment is already there.
Endometrial cancer: 8 out of 10 patients lack access to innovative treatment
Published May 19, 2025 08:20
8 out of 10 patients, the majority with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer with pMMR, do not have access to any innovative treatment. How is this possible, and what needs to be done to improve the situation for this group of patients?
Endometrial cancer is such a very high-profile and vocal cancer, because we get the most patients when it comes to gynecological cancers. However, for years it was neglected and unnoticed, because there were also no solutions for it in the development of medicine. Now robotic surgery is reimbursed in endometrial cancer. There is also reimbursed therapy, and thanks to this, patients could finally be taken care of. We have a group that already brings together almost 1,500 people who are interested in this topic and involved in their own treatment or that of a loved one.
I see that patients need a lot of knowledge. We are providing it to them. However, as of today, we can't yet respond positively to everyone, for the reason that only patients with dMMR can be treated with the latest therapy, which has already entered reimbursement and is available in Poland - but this group is only 20% of the women of those generally ill with us. Therefore, many patients are still left drug-free. I know that therapies have already appeared in Poland. We also have a chance for reimbursement, and we deeply hope for it, for the reason that this larger group with advanced, as well as recurrent endometrial cancer, can be treated with these drugs. It is important to determine pMMR status in immunohistochemical studies. This is a fairly simple distinction, that is, patients with dMMR or pMMR. And here we already have experience from the world, because these drugs are already used and available, so there is clinical experience in other countries. Therefore, we are very much looking forward to our Polish patients being able to get this treatment. Why is this so important? Because a huge number of these women - more than 3,000 a year - unfortunately die. And we will continue to work on sensitizing Polish women to what are the non-specific symptoms and that they should report to a doctor as early as possible to detect this cancer. Then it will be possible to guarantee them therapies that will meet their needs, but also ensure a clinical effect.
