U.S. Pays Highest Prices for Cancer Meds: Study

U.S. Pays Highest Prices for Cancer Meds: Study

However, actual ability to pay for the drugs is better than in some other countries, researchers add

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, June 6, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- The United States pays the highest prices in the world for generic and brand-name cancer drugs, a new study has found.

However, as the world's wealthiest nation, the United States is better able to pay for those pricey drugs than poorer countries with somewhat lower medication prices, added study lead author Dr. Daniel Goldstein.

People in China and India are much less able to afford cancer drugs than Americans, he said, even though U.S. monthly drug prices are about three to six times higher in the United States.

That doesn't mean America came out on top in overall drug affordability, however. Developed nations such as Australia, England and Israel had the "best deal" in the world on cancer drugs, thanks to government programs that regulate drug pricing, the study found.

"America is the wealthiest nation, but its drug prices are significantly higher -- so much so that cancer medications are less affordable in the U.S. than developed countries like England or Australia," said Goldstein, who's a senior medical oncologist at Rabin Medical Center in Petach Tkvah, Israel.

Goldstein was scheduled to present the findings Monday at the American Society for Clinical Oncology annual meeting, in Chicago. Research presented at medical meetings is typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

For the study, Goldstein's group compared the prices for 23 cancer drugs in seven countries: Australia, China, England, India, Israel, South Africa and the United States.

The analysis included 15 generic and eight brand-name cancer drugs used to treat a wide range of different cancers.

Drugs included in the analysis included the leukemia drug Sprycel (dasatinib), which can cost around $12,000 a month in the United States; the lung and pancreatic cancer drug Tarceva (erlotinib), which costs around $7,700 a month; and the breast cancer drug Herceptin (trastuzumab), which costs more than $5,300 a month, the researchers said.

On average, the study found that Americans pay the most per month for both brand-name drugs ($8,694) and generics ($654).

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