Development of New Drugs for Cancer Patients Essay

But instead of finding ways to prevent or cure cancer they pour all their funding into treating cancer. Why would they want to get rid of this money machine? The “Cancer Machine” rakes in loads of cash from chemotherapy drugs, radiotherapy, diagnostic procedures, and surgeries. The typical cancer patient will spend around 50,000 dollars fighting the disease, but if the cancer industry allows a cure then their patient base goes away along with all their funding. It makes more sense for them to keep their patients alive, but sick and coming back for more. A crazy statistic points out that “two out of three cancer patients will be dead within five years after receiving all or part of the standard cancer treatment…” It makes you wonder as to how well is this “cancer treatment”

In an article written by oncologist Lacie Glover, her concern was about the rising cost of cancer treatment, newly approved cancer drug costs of an average of $10,000 per month, and therapy costs averaging $30,000 per month. A patient typically pays 20-30% out of pocket for drugs. Therefore, the year’s average cost of new cancer medications would $26,000-$36,000, in addition to their health insurance premiums. If you wonder why insurance premiums are constantly on the rise, reflecting on the illnesses and costs to treat them.

The CDC estimates that each year, more than eight million people are diagnosed, and consequently died from cancer, and this statistic was even higher in the 1950s. During this period, little was known of cancer’s effects on the

Cancer is one of the leading cause of death in Australia and has a considerable social and economic influence on individuals, families and the community. Statistics shows that Australia has third highest cancer rate approximately 323 people being diagnosed per 100,000 in the world. (Begg & etal, 2007, pg.116). According to the recent disease study in burden of disease by WHO and Global Burden of disease study 2012, the findings of study showed 16% and 19% of the total disease burden in Australia (Moore & et al, 2007 pg.88)). Cancer is the sixth most expensive chronic disease due to the high expenditure of treatment and management compared to other chronic disease. It has been further described that approximately $4.5 billion were spent on cancer in 2008-09, accounting for 7% of total healthcare expenditure on chronic disease (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2013b, p.7) and 79% of total expenditure that spent on cancer patients who were admitted in hospital which is 20% more than the same expenditure that was spent on all

Background: Americans pay the highest prices for prescription drugs in the world. Drug costs increased 12.6 percent last year, more than double the rise in overall medical costs. A new Kaiser Health poll shows that most Americans think prescription drug costs in this country are unreasonable, and that drug companies put profits before people.1 Take the example of albendazole which is broad spectrum anti-parasitic drug. In late 2010, the listed average wholesale price for albendazole was $5.92 per typical daily dose in the United States and less than $1 per typical daily dose overseas. By 2013, the listed typical daily dose price for USA market had increased to $119.58. Medicaid data show that spending on albendazole increased from less than $100,000 per year in 2008, when the average cost was $36.10 per prescription, to more than $7.5 million in 2013, when the average cost was $241.30 per prescription2. Albendazole is a very basic medicine but if we take the case of oncology medicines we are going to realize that oncology drugs have become synonymous with extremely high cost. The average cancer drug price for approximately 1 year of therapy was less than 10,000 per year in 2010 and had increased to $30,000 to $50,000 by 2005. In 2012, 12 of the 13 new drugs approved for cancer indications were priced above $100,000 per year of therapy. With typical out-of-pocket expenses of 20% to 30%, the financial burden would be $20,000 to 30,000 a year, nearly half of the average annual

Known as one of the world’s most deadly diseases, second only to heart disease, cancer is a well known killer. Cancer is a disease mankind has been burdened with since the first documented records of human existence (“The History of Cancer”). Until the early 1900s, cancer was exclusively treated with surgery, which didn’t usually yield very effective results. Only recently have doctors reached a point where they can use drug therapies to suppress the disease. Relative to humans, cancer treatments are very new. Because the market for pharmaceutical drugs is so new, they lack many regulations and pricing guidelines. This allows these new companies to create a drug and place almost any price on it. The system in place can very easily be taken

Many doctors, physicians, researchers and biotech companies--including the revolutionary Seattle Genetics research facility--are now turning to antibody-assisted cancer treatments and precisely targeted cures instead of treating cancer with a cocktail of chemicals and radiation that generate risky side effects and damage the healthy tissue that patients need to recover. Cancers are among the most frightening and difficult-to-treat illnesses. Ranked as the leading cause of death and disability, cancer is actually an umbrella term that covers many different diseases. Each person faces a unique disease because cancers interact with the body's existing cells, so each case has a

Finding a panacea for cancer will be an arduous task with a very lengthy and discouraging trial and error period. Inevitably there will be some trying hurdles to get past in search of this cancer panacea, but, one that seems to be the most difficult to get passed is the severity and variety of the case presented. Doctors see this as overwhelming and very daunting since they do not want to get a patient’s hopes up if the medicine turns out not to work, or cause things to get worse. If doctors believe they have found this new and astonishing drug that cures all cancer at all stages and they prescribe it but turns out to only make the cancer worse, they will have to live knowing that they hurt all of these people and their families forever. In

For many types of cancers, we have been using the same base drug (first line treatment) for ten years or even longer. As companies find new drugs to fight the cancers, they hope that it will be the miracle drug that will eradicate the cancer, but it usually isn’t. When they reach this conclusion, instead of returning to the chalkboard and continuing to work to improve the drug, they put the drug on the market as is, and hope it will achieve something. Not only are they putting these drugs on the market but they put price tags on them that would bankrupt anyone without some sort of third party payer. The combination of all of these drugs make up what doctors

Abstract Cancer “Sucks” and many individuals today are dealing with it or know someone who has dealt with it. The late president Richard Nixon declared war on cancer in 1971 and we have been fighting the battle ever since (McCarthy, 2015, paras. 16). Since the declaration many possible cures were developed and chemotherapy is the one which seems to work on almost every cancer. However, this treatment has drawbacks that are either controversial or questionable as to what degree they help with defeating cancer.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, exceeded only by heart disease. In 2011, more than 575,000 people died of cancer, and more than 1.5 million people had a diagnosis of cancer. Millions more have been affected by cancer directly post diagnosis or indirectly by taking care of a loved one that had been diagnosed with cancer. The actual cost of such a disease extends well beyond the number of lives lost and new diagnoses each year. Cancer survivors, as well as their family members, friends, and caregivers, may face physical, emotional, social, and spiritual challenges as a result of their cancer diagnosis and treatment. The financial costs of cancer also are overwhelming. According to the National Institutes of Health,

Cancer affects everyone – the young and old, the rich and poor, men, women and children – and represents a tremendous burden on patients, families and societies. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world, particularly in developing countries.

As stated in the article, the major problem examined by the medical profession is the high pricing of cancer drugs. This problem has emerged because of the poor pricing strategies adopted by the manufacturers. Also this is a result of the hidebound reimbursement system that is used for the pricing of drugs. The hidebound reimbursement system refers to hesitance or unwillingness of payment for a drug or any product. This system does not let the manufacturers set the prices of the drug based on its value and worth. Due to this the regulators sets thresholds for cost effectiveness which establishes not only a price ceiling but also price floors.

Cancer is figured to be the second leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. With approximately 14 million new cases and 8.2 million cancer related deaths in 2012, alone .Why are so many people stuck suffering with this deadly disease? Millions of dollars have been invested into cancer research, yet there is no cure. Are these pharmaceutical companies focus on finding a cure for cancer or concentrating on elongated treatments in order to lengthen their pockets? We must first understand that cancer is big business earning huge profits. Nonetheless, the cancer industry is spending virtually zilch of its multi-billion dollar resources on effective prevention strategies, like dietary guidelines, exercise, natural remedies and herbs proven to cure cancer. Instead, it pours its money into treating cancer, not preventing or allaying it.

Cancer. We all know someone who has suffered from it or has passed away because of it. Cancer now affects one in every three people, and is the second highest cause of death in the United States. For decades, the medical community has been on the hunt for a cure for cancer, and have been subjected to intense ridicule from the public because of a lack of progression toward a possible cure. In recent years, many scientists, doctors, researchers, and the general public have come to believe that the cure for cancer is being suppressed because of this lack of progress. Those who say it is suppressed claim that the drugs used to treat cancer actually cause cancer, making a patient sicker and sicker. As a result, the patients are forced to spend