SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – While cancer medications can cost tens of thousands of dollars per month, new research indicates that many of them are not particularly effective.
Late last year, research published in the JAMA Oncology journal found that a drop in cancer deaths between 1975 and 2020 was due mostly to improved screening and preventative health measures, not new treatments. Bloomberg analyzed this data and more for a report published Wednesday.
“What we found is the initial prices and introductory prices for new cancer drugs have more than quadrupled over roughly the past quarter century after inflation, and... now typically, a median price of a new drug is around $25,000 per month,” said Bloomberg’s Robert Langreth.
He said that drugs to treat cancer have also been approved through new, expedited mechanisms over the past 25 years. These mechanisms have been backed by drug companies themselves and approved by Congress. Over the past three decades, the U.S Food and Drug Administration has greenlit more than 200 cancer drugs.
“They get on the market faster, but sometimes have much less definitive evidence,” Langreth explained. “They’re based on… tumor shrinkage or delaying tumor growth on a scan, but not what matters the most, which is actual patient survival.”
In fact, the Bloomberg research found that “less than half of the drugs approved have been shown to extend patient survival in any of their approved uses,” something the team found surprising.
Even though there is scant evidence that the drugs improve survival rates for cancer patients, Langreth noted that prices for the medications have still skyrocketed. He also said that the industry has been criticized for being allowed to conduct research rather than the federal government.
Once these drugs hit the market, they become some of the “biggest blockbusters ever” when it comes to pharmaceuticals, generating $200 billion in worldwide sales Langreth explained.
“That’s actually 10 times bigger than obesity drugs were last year,” he added.
Although some of the medications are real “game changers,” even those come at a high price. Often, patients and their supporters aren’t given many treatment options. Langreth used one example of a woman whose mother was put on a drug that ultimately stopped working.
“Her mom wasn’t given a choice, and they weren't told about the possibility of other drugs, you know, and were just kind of put on that one because that was the one everyone was using.”
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok