The World Health Organization (WHO) Model List of Essential Medicines was first published in 1977 and since then it has been updated every two years. The last version was published in 2021 and contains the medicines considered most effective and safe to meet the most critical needs of a health system. Developed and developing countries have created national lists of essential medicines based on the WHO model list, in Brazil, for example, named RENAME and since 2011 has been updated by the National Commission for the Incorporation of Technologies in the SUS (CONITEC). Even though, the list faces challenges with inclusion of different types of medications to meet particularities of each population, such as cancer patients. Frequently, these patients are not fully covered by the list and need to pay for their own treatment or require judicialization. In this paper, we compared the real availability of cancer drugs which were in the WHO essential list in the Brazilian public health system. First, we consulted the 2021 version of the WHO list of essential medicines and then, checked which ones had recommendations by CONITEC for inclusion or not in the SUS. Finally, we compared the current recommendations with a list of health technologies adopted by a Brazilian network of university hospitals, which operates in the SUS. This article analyzes differences between the model list and CONITEC recommendations and the real-world practice, highlighting important aspects such as financing and real access to these drugs.