Greed kills

From here.

No doubt about it--cancer drugs are hot. With new targeted therapies coming online--and immunotherapies the talk of this year's ASCO meeting--oncologists are getting new treatments for their tool chests, and drugmakers are adding lucrative products to their cash boxes.

 

 

But there's a hitch: cost. These new cancer therapies are potentially lucrative because they're pricey. Some recent rollouts top $100,000 per year, with upper-6-figure prices for the rest. The highly anticipated immunotherapies are expected to run around $110,000 in the U.S., analysts tell Reuters, with $80,000 price tags common in the rest of the world.

 

So, experts say, cancer care will have to change. In fact, it already has. One recently launched cancer drug, Sanofi's ($SNY) Zaltrap, was immediately discounted after Memorial Sloan-Kettering doctors decided its benefits weren't worth the price of about $10,000 per month. The top cancer hospital may do the same for other pricey drugs, doctors said. Meanwhile, insurers are prereviewing drug therapies more often, and they're less inclined to approve off-label use. And as Reuters notes, some 80% of U.S. insurers told PricewaterhouseCoopers they won't add new therapies to their formularies without evidence of cost savings and clinical benefits.