When talking about the effects of cancer, financial toxicity is still too often overlooked. Yet its consequences can be life-altering.
A cancer diagnosis more than doubles a patient’s risk of bankruptcy. Even more concerning, patients who struggle to pay their bills are 50% more likely to lose their lives, not because their cancer is more aggressive, but because financial instability leads to missed appointments, delayed treatment and poor adherence to care plans.
In other words, the cost of cancer can become part of the disease itself.
Jemma Arakelyan, a medical oncologist, CEO at the Institute of Cancer and Crisis, and the deputy CEO at the Immune Oncology Research Institute, is working to bring this hidden burden into the centre of cancer policy and research.
At the European Cancer Summit 2024, she was awarded a European Cancer Community Foundation Rising Star Grant for her project, ‘The Influence of Financial Toxicity on the Mental Health of Cancer Patients’.
The aim is straightforward but urgent: to generate real-world evidence on how financial pressure affects cancer outcomes, mental health and treatment adherence, to shape stronger patient protection policies.
The project has already enabled multinational data collection across three countries – Armenia, Egypt and Iraq – capturing patient experiences in very different healthcare systems.
She explained that the value of the project lies in evidence that can drive change. ‘We are collecting real data from patients in three different systems, which can be used to push for policy changes that protect people from going broke while fighting cancer.’
By comparing experiences across different economic and healthcare contexts, the research highlights how financial toxicity is not confined to any single system but is a global challenge that shapes outcomes in subtle but powerful ways.
The findings are intended to support policymakers in recognising financial distress as a clinical issue, not just a social one, and to inform more equitable cancer care models.
‘Curing cancer but leaving someone in that financial situation is not a real victory,’ said Dr Arakelyan.
Watch the video testimonial below for the latest updates from Dr Arakelyan on her project and emerging findings from the research.