The Real Cancer Killer: High Cost of Cancer Drugs

The Real Cancer Killer: High Cost of Cancer Drugs

 

                If it isn’t heart breaking enough to discover that you yourself or someone dear to you has cancer, the high cost of cancer drugs makes it even more saddening. Cancer patients and their families have not only to live with the life changing news and learn to adjust to it but also have to figure out how to pay for treatment (chemotherapy and radiation) that comes with it and how to pay for the high cost of cancer drugs.

The Irony of Cancer and Cancer Drugs

                Why does it seem so ironic to be diagnosed with a life threatening disease and instead of being relieved for the drugs and treatments available in our day today, but having those certain drugs and treatments be too expensive for those patients? It is sad news especially in our day and age to know that sometimes the real cancer killer is the high cost of cancer drugs instead of the illness itself. Today, the cost of cancer drugs are skyrocketing and even getting more expensive throughout the years. The Food and Drug Administration approved 12 drugs for cancer and out of those 12 drugs, 11 of them were said to cost over $100,000 for just a year of treatment and this was a research done just in 2012. Some physicians from New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center quoted “the typical new cancer drug coming on the market a decade ago cost $4,500 per month, since 2010 the median price has been around $10,000.”             

                Due to these high costs of cancer drugs, a group of doctors came together for the lowering of the cost of chemotherapy drugs. These group of doctors which all specialize in treating leukemia wrote in a medical journal that the cancer drugs cost are “too high, unsustainable, may compromise access of needy patients to highly effective therapy, and are harmful to the sustainability of our national healthcare systems.” In regards to that, pharmaceutical companies gave out their price-fixing equation for their reasons in increasing the prices of cancer drugs. Those companies said that the longer that chemotherapeutic drug or treatment prolongs life, the more it will cost. For example leukemia, the patient could shell out as much as $138,000 yearly for treatments and drugs. Needless to say, many patients and their families cannot afford these high cost for cancer drugs, treatments, surgeries and radiation. Many patients have died from these high cost of cancer drugs while their families have gone broke. Even with these high prices, cancer patients and their families have not and will not give up to fight the illness. Even if chemotherapeutic drugs are very pricey, they are still vital to the treatment of cancer and patients and their families will not give in to those high prices.

The Cost of Xtandi

                Some cancer patients are given the drug Xtandi, which is classified as being a part of the Androgen Receptor Inhibitors class. This drug treat prostate cancer and is used to retard and slow down the growth of cancer cells. Xtandi is only available in its brand name drug. This drug is quite pricey and a patient will spend around $7,450 for a month. Another popular cancer drug Is Adcetris. This drug is used to treat Hodgkin lymphoma and costs at an estimated $4,500 per vial. Patients typically need at least three vials in one dose and then on seven to nine doses per the course of its treatment. It ends up costing around $94,500 to $121,500.

In Conclusion

                Many cancer patients have to face not only the disease but also the cost of treatments and cancer drugs. It is even more difficult in so many ways to have to absorb the truth that cancer is not only emotional and physical impairment, but also financially for the cancer patient and their families.

 

Author Bio:

This post is written by Cancer Treatment Meds-One of the prominent leader in cancer industry. They are the first choice for many Oncologist and patients.