After analyzing sales of 67 treatments in 25 countries, the Swedish report said that other countries that make it to the list of worst cancer treatment include New Zealand, Poland, the Czech Republic and South Africa.
The study, which was published in cancer journal Annals of Oncologywas compiled by Dr Nils Wilking, clinical oncologist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and Dr Bengt Jonsson, director of the Center for Health Economics at the Stockholm School of Economics.
Apart from 19 European countries, researchers also surveyed Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa and the U.S. The countries that were ranked best for their cancer treatment included Austria, France, Switzerland and the U.S. where doctors insisted on using new cancer drugs.
Also, France had the highest five-year survival rate for all cancers (apart from non-melanoma skin cancer). In France, 71 percent of women and 53 percent of men survived each year from diseases related to cancer.
The Guardian reports that Britain had the lowest survival rates at 53 percent for women and 43 percent for men respectively. France, Spain, Germany and Italy treated nearly 51-52 percent of cancer patients with drugs launched after 1985. The figure was just 40 percent for Britain.
The report also found a marked difference in uptake for the new colorectal and lung cancer drugs, which are among the world's top cancer killers for both men and women. The U.S. use of bevacizumab for colorectal cancer was 10 times the uptake of the European average. The drug's lowest usage was seen in the United Kingdom.
