For the past 20 years, the drug prices “innovative” and new molecules put on the market, has continued to increase. According to Medicare, the average cost of a year of life gained through cancer treatments went from 15,877 euros in 1996 to 175,968 euros in 2016. In order to denounce this, eight organizations came together in a white paper published this Wednesday, June 20. Among them are the association Aides, the magazine Prescrire, the NGO Médecins du monde, and the consumer association UFC-Que Choisir. According to them, these “exorbitant and unjustified” prices threaten “equitable access” to care.
UFC-Que Choisir addresses, for example, the case of Kadcyla®, used in the treatment of breast cancer. This treatment costs 6,000 euros per month, or 72,000 in 1 year. Another example is Keytruda®, indicated in the treatment of melanoma. “The High Authority for Health (HAS) estimated that the improvement in actual benefit (ASMR) that it provided was only minor compared to existing treatments”. However, its cost is also 72,000 euros per year. And these are just two examples among many others.
Towards industrial transparency
“The new treatments allow and will make it possible to prolong life, to avoid adverse effects, to cure people. They bring hope for patients and their loved ones, they are eagerly awaited. But they are not and will not be effective only if they are actually accessible to all people who need them, in an equitable manner, therefore not threatening the balance of health systems”, explains La Ligue contre le Cancer. The associations are therefore asking for more transparency on the costs of research and development, on clinical trials, as well as on the mechanisms for setting prices between governments and manufacturers in order to be able to justify such prices. This White Paper echoes the meeting which will bring together the industrialists of the sector on July 9th.
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