See articles below. PV-10 will be cheaper and more accessible than other cancer drugs.
ABC World News Segment Discusses High Costs Of Cancer Medications. ABC World News (12/18, story 5, 3:10, Sawyer) reported on the high costs of many cancer medications. ABC News chief medical editor Richard Besser, MD pointed out that “cancer drug prices have doubled in the past decade; eleven of the past 12 drugs the FDA approved for fighting cancer in 2012 were priced over $100,000...a year.” Due to such costs, Besser said, “thousands of cancer patients, even many with insurance,” are forced to either “go bankrupt or die.” Besser discussed the issue with Dr. Hagop Kantarjian, who “is leading a protest by more than 100 cancer specialists, demanding pharmaceutical companies lower their drug prices.”
Reuters (12/19, Emery) alludes to a study that says cancer specialists are finding it increasingly difficult to get medications that would provide the best treatments for their patients. According to a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine, more than eight in 10 cancer physicians find it difficult to get the medications.
As a result of difficulty in getting those medications, “more than 75 percent of oncologists were forced to make a major change in patient treatment,” HealthDay (12/19, Gordon) says. These changes include changing “the regimen of chemotherapy drugs initially prescribed” or substituting drugs in a specific chemotherapy regimen. “The drugs we’re seeing in shortages are for colon cancer, breast cancer and leukemia,” according to Dr. Keerthi Gogineni, an oncologist who led the team conducting the survey. The survey sought views from more than 200 cancer specialists who routinely prescribe cancer medications. Also, when they substitute medications, it is often a generic drug “that’s unavailable,” HealthDay notes.
Medscape (12/19, Nelson) provides additional details, noting that the medications “most commonly reported to be in short supply were leucovorin (reported by 66.4% of oncologists surveyed), liposomal doxorubicin (reported by 61.7%), fluorouracil (reported by 18.7%), bleomycin (reported by 17.3%), and cytarabine (reported by 16.4%).”
Phase III Trial Launched For Biosimilar Medication To Treat Psoriasis. Reuters (12/19, Hirschler) reports Novartis unit Sandoz disclosed it has begun Phase III clinical trial for moderate to severe plaque-type psoriasis with a biosimilar copy of AbbVie’s Humira (Adalimumab) medication.
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