Rising Cost of Cancer Drugs
There is much evidence regarding the rising cost of Cancer treatments. This is associated with the rising cost of the drugs used to treat the various forms of the disease. “Most cancer drugs launched between 2009 and 2014 were priced at more than $100,000 per patient for one year of treatment. More recently, we’ve seen the launch prices of more than $400,000 for a year of treatment.”, Barbara K. Rimer, Dr.P.H.[i]
Shocking isn’t it? A patient may experience out of pocket expenses of $12,000 per year for one drug. Most patients need a mix of drugs for effective treatment pushing their out of pocket costs even higher. In many cases patients resort to desperate measures, they must choose between pay for their medicines or their mortgages, skipping to stretch prescriptions longer which reduces the effectiveness of their treatments. A study published by the Journal of Clinical Oncology, states that many of the more common drug treatments including those with generic versions still increased 18%-25% after inflation over an 8-year period.
Below are samples of the drugs in the study:
“Overall, most of the injectable drug costs in the study continued to rise after launch. For example:
- Adcetris (brentuximab), marketed by Seattle Genetics, cost an average $19,482 a month when it was approved in 2011 to treat some types of lymphoma, and has gone up 29% after adjusting for inflation.
- Alimta (pemetrexed), marketed by Eli Lilly, cost an average $5,026 a month when it was approved in 2004 to treat some types of lung cancer, and has gone up 27% after adjusting for inflation.
- Arranon (nelarabine), marketed by Novartis, cost an average $18,513 a month when it was approved in 2005 to treat some types of leukemia and lymphoma, and has gone up 55% after adjusting for inflation.
- Folotyn (pralatrexate), marketed by Spectrum Pharmaceutical, cost an average $31,684 a month when it was approved in 2009 to treat some types of lymphoma, and has gone up 31% after adjusting for inflation.
- Herceptin (trastuzumab), marketed by Genentech, cost an average $3,476 a month when it was approved in 2006 to treat some types of breast cancer, and has gone up 44% after adjusting for inflation.
- Marqibo (liposomal vincristine), marketed by Spectrum Pharmaceutical, cost an average $34,602 a month when it was approved in 2012 to treat some types of leukemia, and has gone up 18% after adjusting for inflation.
- Torisel (temsirolimus), marketed by Wyeth, cost an average $4,791 a month when it was approved in 2007 to treat some types of kidney cancer, and has gone up 24% after inflation”[ii].
Today’s cancer drugs are more effective and more tolerable, so patients take them for longer periods, notes Syed Yousuf Zafar, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Public Policy at Duke University. But the drugs are also vastly more expensive than they used to be, and insurers are shifting more of that cost back on to patients. “These three factors together,” says Zafar, “have resulted in unsurmountable medical costs, for at least a proportion of patients.”[iii]
Peter Bach, MD, Director of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Center for Health Policy Outcomes in New York, told Reuters: “Most of the strategy on the part of pharmaceutical companies assumes unrestrained pricing power. We don’t see evidence that companies are pursuing cost-effective strategies.”
In a future article we will talk about the potential way to bring those prices down or at least align them more with standard market economics.
Below is an infographic with more information.
[i] The Imperative of Addressing Cancer Drug Costs and Value, Barbara K. Rimer, Dr.P.H, National Cancer Institute, March 15, 2018, https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2018/presidents-cancer-panel-drug-prices
[ii] Study Shows US Cancer Drug Costs Increasing Despite Competition, American Cancer Society, Nov. 8, 2017, https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/study-shows-us-cancer-drug-costs-increasing-despite-competition.html
[iii] Cost of Cancer Drugs: Something Has To Give, Eric Bender, Managed Care, May 3, 2018, https://www.managedcaremag.com/archives/2018/5/cost-cancer-drugs-something-has-give
[iv] Urging Affordable Access to High-Value Cancer Drugs, National Cancer Institute, https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2018/affordable-access-to-cancer-drugs-infographic