{"id":552,"date":"2010-01-22T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-22T16:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/2010\/01\/cancer-drugs-can-cost-an-arm-and-a-leg%e2%80%a6-or-a-car.html"},"modified":"2010-01-22T16:30:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-22T16:30:00","slug":"cancer_drugs_can_cost_an_arm_a_1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/2010\/01\/cancer_drugs_can_cost_an_arm_a_1.html","title":{"rendered":"Cancer drugs can cost an arm and a leg\u2026 or a car"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Health Affairs<\/em> study<\/a> that made news<\/a> this week notes the increasing cost of cancer drugs, as well as the effect rising prices have on prescribing practices. A survey of nearly 1,400 oncologists in the US found 84% say treatments are influenced by their patients\u2019 out-of-pocket spending. While the vast majority supported further research into comparative and cost effectiveness, nearly half of oncologists believed a drug was of good value for $50,001-$100,000 per life-year gained.<\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/em><\/a> also recently took a look at high-price cancer drugs. When it comes to drugs like Folotyn \u2014 for which a month\u2019s worth of treatment costs up to $37,000 \u2014 pharmaceutical companies point out the funds needed for research and development.<\/p>\n

But the current system is one of heartbreak: It\u2019s not unheard of for individuals to mortgage their house or even file for bankruptcy due to the high cost of their cancer medications. To put into perspective just how much some cancer patients have to spend, it might be useful to compare these drug prices to a well-known commodity; and please know that, in doing so, we in no way mean to imply that the medicines are not worth the cost. Here are the cars you could afford with the same amount of money as a month’s worth<\/em> of some cutting-edge cancer drugs (below the fold):<\/p>\n


\n\"TataNano.jpeg\"<\/p>\n

Avastin<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n

For:<\/strong> Certain forms of colorectal, lung, and breast cancer<\/p>\n

Average treatment cost:<\/strong> $8,800\/month<\/p>\n

For that price:<\/strong> 2 Tata Nano LX cars<\/a><\/p>\n

\"HyundaiAccent2.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Erbitux<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n

For:<\/strong> Certain forms of colorectal and head and neck cancer<\/p>\n

Average treatment cost:<\/strong> $10,000\/month<\/p>\n

For that price: <\/strong>\u201910 Hyundai Accent<\/a><\/p>\n

Arzerra<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n

For:<\/strong> Chronic lymphocytic leukemia<\/p>\n

Average treatment cost:<\/strong> Approximately $16,000\/month<\/p>\n

For that price:<\/strong> \u201910 Pontiac Vibe<\/a><\/p>\n

\"ToyotaCamry2.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Campath<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n

For:<\/strong> B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia<\/p>\n

Average treatment cost:<\/strong> $20,000\/month<\/p>\n

For that price:<\/strong> \u201910 Toyota Camry<\/a><\/p>\n

Folotyn<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n

For:<\/strong> Peripheral T-cell lymphoma<\/p>\n

Average treatment cost:<\/strong> Up to $37,000\/month<\/p>\n

For that price:<\/strong> \u201910 Nissan 370Z<\/a><\/p>\n

\"LexusSC4302.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Clolar<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n

For:<\/strong> Pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia<\/p>\n

Average treatment cost:<\/strong> $68,000\/2 weeks of treatment**<\/p>\n

For that price:<\/strong> \u201910 Lexus SC 430<\/a><\/p>\n

Car prices via Consumer Guide Automotive<\/a> and infibeam.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Health Affairs study that made news this week notes the increasing cost of cancer drugs, as well as the effect rising prices have on prescribing practices. A survey of nearly 1,400 oncologists in the US found 84% say treatments are influenced by their patients\u2019 out-of-pocket spending. While the vast majority supported further research into comparative and cost effectiveness, nearly half of oncologists believed a drug was of good value for $50,001-$100,000 per life-year gained.  Read more<\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cancer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}