Some cancer drugs have seen a spike in their prices based on a new study that fuels the debate about big pharma charging sky-high prices for prescription meds. It shows that the price tags of certain oral medications have risen multiple-fold since the year 2000.
The research was published on April 28, Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It was conducted by the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill by evaluating data from one prescription drug database.
Since the new millennium started the average costs of some cancer drugs in forms such as tablets and capsules have risen sharply. That was even true after the prices of the medicines were adjusted for inflation, according to ABC News. In addition, new drugs cost more than medications already on the market.
The oral cancer drugs provide some key benefits. In particular they can fight cancer in several ways and are less stressful to use compared to other methods such as radiation and chemotherapy treatments.
In fact, the oral medicines have become very popular since 2000, and a total of 32 new treatments hit the market between 2000 and 2014.
However, the average price of such drugs has also increased. The average price was $1,869 per month for cancer drugs launched in 2000, but spiked to $11,325 per month in 2014. That is a 6-fold increase.
The researcher also found that the prices of new drugs during the first year of availability rose from those releases between 2000 and 2010, and after 2010. Mean monthly spending spiked 63 percent.
Stacie Dusetzina is the study's author and an assistant professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, She said in a statement the pharmaceutical products are getting more expensive as time passes.
Dusetzina pointed out that the medical industry has pushed to develop new anti-cancer drugs. However, the high prices make it difficult or almost impossible for patients to access the new treatments.
In related news, researchers at the University of Delhi have found that cancer drugs can slow down the development of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, according to The Hindu. Their goal was to find a gene or protein that could slow down the diseases.
Here's a report on doctors fighting expensive cancer drugs: