Drug companies are making big profits from very small increases in cancer drug effectiveness.
But many companies seem to be maximizing cancer profit instead. Big drug companies are making big money off smaller and smaller improvements in cancer care. Newfangled cancer drugs can cost $50,000 a year, and that doesn’t mean they will add a year to the patient’s life--you might spend $50,000 for a year and extend the patient's life by only weeks.
The skyrocketing costs for limited benefit are leading some experts to worry
about whether the medical system has the right incentives
We are wasting a lot of resources treating people with treatments they don't
need," says Otis Brawley, chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society.
Novartis
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NVS
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news
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people ),
Wyeth
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WYE
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people ) and
Pfizer
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PFE
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people ) all sell
very expensive cancer pills. "We would like to believe that cost should be no
object, but that is not reality,
clipped from: www.forbes.com