40-19 Cancer Treatment Growth of the Cost of Drugs Slows to 5.4 Percent per Year

publication date: May. 9, 2014

Cancer Treatment
Growth of the Cost of Drugs Slows to 5.4 Percent per Year; 21 Therapies Launched in 2 Years

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The growth of global spending on oncology medicines has slowed over the past five years, according to a report by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics.

Spending on cancer drugs, including those used for supportive care, increased at a compound annual growth rate of 5.4 percent during the past five years, reaching $91 billion in 2013, compared with 14.2 percent from 2003 to 2008.

The slowed growth rate reflects fewer breakthrough therapies for very large patient populations, as well as patent expirations, reductions in the use of supportive care medicines, and stronger management on the part of payers, the report states.

Targeted therapies have dramatically increased their share of global oncology sales, from 11 percent a decade ago to 46 percent last year. Payers have intensified their scrutiny of the value of these medicines relative to their incremental benefits over existing treatments.

At the same time, the average cost per month for a branded oncology drug in the U.S. is now approximately $10,000, up from an average of $5,000 a decade ago. Concentrated or single-payer health systems, and those utilizing health technology assessments to evaluate the value of treatments, tend to pay less than U.S. prices for medicines. The pricing discount mechanisms used in major European markets typically drive net prices down by approximately 20-40 percent in comparison.

“As the cancer patient population mix shifts from mature and developed markets to low- and middle-income countries, oncology is bringing higher levels of uncertainty to health … Continue reading 40-19 Cancer Treatment Growth of the Cost of Drugs Slows to 5.4 Percent per Year

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