Cancer specialists urge doctors to take into account the cost of the drug they prescribe, while spending on cancer treatments is growing rapidly.
Cancer specialists should consider the medical as well as the financial impact of a treatment, according to experts meeting until June 3 in Chicago for the international congress of ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology).
The “cost-effectiveness” of a drug obviously leads to ethical debates, especially in the context of cancer where the treatment is largely or even entirely – as is the case in France – paid for by the community. In 2009, two specialists had thus questioned the case of a drug used for certain lung cancers. Administered for eighteen weeks, it extends the life of patients by an average of 1.2 months at a cost of $ 80,000 (56,000 euros). The same year, Peter Singer, professor of bioethics at Princeton University, cited the case of a drug that could give six more months of life to patients with advanced kidney cancer at a cost of 54 $ 000 (38,000 euros) as an article reminds us of The cross. This problem has therefore been present in the world of medicine for several years.
Especially since the problem does not come only from the number of patients – which are more and more numerous – but also from the price of drugs which does not cease climbing. Thereby this study, also unveiled at this year’s ASCO, reveals that the median cost of cancer treatment fell from $ 37,000 (27,000 euros) per year in 1995 to $ 84,000 (62,000 euros) in 2013 The cost of these drugs is both a burden on the economy of a country, but also a brake on the treatment of other diseases.
ASCO has announced that it is developing a rating system for drugs for advanced cancers based on a combination of benefits, side effects and price. Addressed the topic of drug prices, whether by politicians, or in the United States by insurance companies, is always viewed with suspicion by public opinion, so the fact that this system is proposed by experts from ASCO is a great innovation.
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