Chapter 41
Floyd and I have been reading what Science
Daily has recently been publishing about the Cost of Surviving Cancer.
Chapters 40 and 41 highlight two recent
articles they published . . .
Physicians
Identify Reasons for High Cost of Cancer Drugs, Prescribe Solutions
— A virtual
monopoly held by some drug manufacturers in part because of the way treatment
protocols work is among the reasons cancer drugs cost so much in the United
States, according to a commentary by two Mayo Clinic physicians in the October
issue of the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
Value-based pricing is one potential solution, they write.
"Cancer
care is not representative of a free-market system, and the traditional checks
and balances that make the free-market system work so efficiently in all other
areas are absent when it comes to most cancer treatment," write authors,
Mustaqeem Siddiqui, M.D., an oncologist and Vincent Rajkumar, M.D., a
hematologist.
For
example, when it comes to antibiotics to treat a given infection or
over-the-counter painkillers, a physician or patient can choose between multiple
drugs that do the same thing. But cancer drugs are administered to patients
sequentially or in combination, creating a virtual monopoly for each drug. This
is one of the principal reasons for the high cost of cancer therapy.
Other
factors include the expense of drug development; the high price that patients
and insurers are willing to pay for even modest improvement in outcomes; and a
lack of regulations such as a cost effectiveness analysis to account for
economic and value-based considerations in the drug approval and pricing
process, the physicians write.
Solutions
the authors recommend include:
*
Value-based pricing that includes discrete metrics such as an incremental cost
effectiveness ratio per quality-adjusted-life-years gained, as a result of a
particular treatment. Quality-adjusted-life-years is an estimate of the number
of years added to a patient's life by a specific drug intervention, adjusted
for quality of life.
* A U.S.
Food and Drug Administration mandate requiring drug companies to submit a value
dossier when seeking drug approval. This information would give patients and
physicians the ability to make better-informed decisions about treatment.
* Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services powers to negotiate payments for cancer
drugs.
*
Improved national cancer guidelines providing evidence-based analysis of
quality of life, mortality data, benefits, risks and cost for all possible
treatment options.
*
Monopoly rules to determine if a particular drug will operate in a monopoly
situation. Such drugs would be subject to legally mandated or voluntary price
controls in exchange for expedited approval or other remedy.
*
Non-profit generic drug companies to manufacture and distribute generic cancer
drugs at a very low cost.
Story
Source:
The above
story is based on materials provided
by Mayo Clinic.
Journal Reference:
Mustaqeem
Siddiqui, S. Vincent Rajkumar. The High Cost of Cancer Drugs and What
We Can Do About It. Mayo Clinic Proceedings,
2012; 87 (10): 935 DOI:10.1016/j.mayocp.2012.07.007
Mayo Clinic
(2012, October 1). Physicians identify reasons for high cost of cancer drugs,
prescribe solutions. ScienceDaily. Retrieved
July 24, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121001083212.htm
Floyd and I
agree that some drug manufacturers hold a monopoly
You can decide if Science Daily and Floyd
& I
share your point of view . . . or not
Til’ we chat again,
Remember . . .
“We are all responsible for our wake and any
influence it causes!”
"Leave a wake behind you, that you would want others to
leave for you."
Joe & Floyd
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