By Frank Lichtenberg

Cancer drugs have become more expensive over the past few years, leading many people to question whether the treatments are really worth their high costs. But despite the sticker shock, cancer medicines have provided good value for money.

Avastin. Rituxan. Gleevec. Herceptin. All of these now-familiar drug names are expensive cancer therapies that cost as much as $100,000 for a course of treatment that often lasts only a few months. The most recent cancer medicine to join the premium club was Dendreon’s Provenge, a therapeutic prostate cancer vaccine approved last year that costs $93,000 per patient. The price tags on such drugs are steep, it’s true. And these new cancer treatments can pose a substantial financial burden on healthcare systems if not targeted to the correct patient groups. But, contrary to accounts in the popular press—where individual medicines are often lambasted for not providing suitable bang for their large buck—today’s cancer treatments are indeed a cost-effective way of extending life when one looks at the big picture.

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Image courtesy of Columbia University