The cost of drugs and the critical importance of the patient voice in designing clinical trials were two of the key issues picked out by journalists who attended the European Cancer Congress (ECCO 2017) recently held in Amsterdam.
The European School of Oncology supported 12 journalists to attend the congress and to meet together with patient advocates and experts on the economics of cancer treatment and care.
Afterwards some of the journalists talked about the impact that the congress could have on their future reporting on cancer.
German journalist Pia Heinemann was presented with the 2016 Cancer World Journalism Award by the Cancer World editor Alberto Costa: the €1,500 award was made for Pia’s article on the need for better access to gene testing to decide on treatment, which was published in the German newspaper Welt Am Sonntag.
Her article was selected from 145 entries for the Cancer World award from 50 countries and will be reprinted in Cancer World. Pia Heinemann researched the article after seeing how difficult it was for a friend to understand what the best treatment would be for her breast cancer. She said: “I am very happy that I can get a journalism award by doing what every good journalist should do – asking simple questions.”
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