When Progress Fails to Materialize

This book combines two crucial perspectives: it shows how the development of modern cancer drugs-from immunotherapies and RNA approaches to genetic methods such as CRISPR-will unfold over the next five, ten, and twenty years. At the same time, it asks who will actually have access to these innovations when they become available. It highlights the scientific paths from discovery to approval, the opportunities and limitations of accelerated procedures, the economic and social hurdles, and the profound ethical questions associated with the distribution of high-priced therapies. An international comparison of healthcare systems shows that progress is not equally distributed - while wealthy countries struggle with prices and budgets, the majority of the world's population remains excluded from state-of-the-art therapies. The book brings both strands together and makes it clear that the future of oncology will be decided not only in the laboratory, but also in insurance companies, political institutions, and the values of modern societies. In many cases, cancer could become a chronically controllable disease in the coming decades - whether this will be a collective advance for all or an exclusive privilege for the few depends on decisions that must be made today. Bremen University Press has published over 5,000 specialist books in various languages since 2005. September 2025