Rising cancer drug costs lead to doctor protests against Big Pharma

By Admin

May 17, 2020

undefined mins

The rising cost of cancer drugs has led to a recent onslaught of protests of 118 cancer doctors from the top hospitals across the United States. Report...

The rising cost of cancer drugs has led to a recent onslaught of protests of 118 cancer doctors from the top hospitals across the United States.

Reported as “a harsh rebuke” by the Wall Street Journal, the oncologists have drafted a prescription for reducing the high cost of cancer drugs and voiced support for a patient-based grassroots movement demanding action.

Their recommendations and support are outlined in a commentary in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

The group also supports the patient-based, grassroots movement on change.org that advocates against high cancer drug prices with the goal of drawing the attention of pharmaceutical companies and elected representatives to this issue.

The authors write, "With proper support of these grassroots efforts and proper use of that support downstream, it should be possible to focus the attention of pharmaceutical companies on this problem and to encourage our elected representatives to more effectively advocate for the interests of their most important constituents among the stakeholders in cancer—American cancer patients."

Dr. Ayalew Tefferi, a hematologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said in a news release that the high cost of cancer drugs is “affecting the care of patients with cancer and our health care system.”

"The average gross household income in the U.S. is about $52,000 per year. For an insured patient with cancer who needs a drug that costs $120,000 per year, the out-of-pocket expenses could be as much as $25,000 to $30,000 – more than half their average household income," Tefferi continued.

The group cites a 2015 study by D.H. Howard and colleagues et al, published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, which found that cancer drug prices have risen by an average of $8,500 per year over the past 15 years.

"When you consider that cancer will affect 1 in 3 individuals over their lifetime, and [with] recent trends in insurance coverage [that] put a heavy financial burden on patients with out-of-pocket expenses, you quickly see that the situation is not sustainable," Dr. Tefferi said. "It's time for patients and their physicians to call for change."

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