Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Health policy

Putting a price on cancer

A survey on the official prices of 31 cancer drugs across 18 countries, published by Vogler and colleagues, has revealed substantial differences in price for the same drug in different countries. Herein, we discuss inequalities in the access to cancer care and raise some challenging questions.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Relationship between cancer case fatality risk by country and health-care costs.

References

  1. Kantarjian, H. M., Fojo, T., Mathisen, M. & Zwelling, L. A. Cancer drugs in the United States: justum pretium — the just price. J. Clin. Oncol. 31, 3600–3604 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Vogler, S., Vitry, A. & Babar, Z.-U.-D. Cancer drugs in 16 European countries, Australia, and New Zealand: a cross-country price comparison study. Lancet Oncol. 17, 39–47 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Light, D. W. & Lexchin, J. Foreign free riders and the high price of US medicines. BMJ 331, 958–960 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Leal, J., Luengo-Fernandez, R., Sullivan, R. & Witjes, J. A. Economic burden of bladder cancer across European Union. Eur. Urol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eururo.2015.10.024 (2015).

  5. Luengo-Fernandez, R., Leal, J., Gray, A. & Sullivan, R. Economic burden of cancer across the European Union: a population-based cost analysis. Lancet Oncol. 14, 1165–1174 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Marmot, M. Achieving health equity: from root causes to fair outcomes. Lancet 370, 1153–1163 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Davis, C. Drugs, cancer and end-of-life care: a case study of pharmaceuticalization? Soc. Sci. Med. 131, 207–214 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Cherny, N. I. et al. A standardised, generic, validated approach to stratify the magnitude of clinical benefit that can be anticipated from anti-cancer therapies: the European Society for Medical Oncology Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale (ESMO-MCBS). Ann. Oncol. 26, 1547–1573 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Fojo, T., Mailankody, S. & Lo, A. Unintended consequences of expensive cancer therapeutics-the pursuit of marginal indications and a me-too mentality that stifles innovation and creativity: the John Conley Lecture. JAMA Otolaryngol. Head Neck Surg. 140, 1225–1236 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Persson, U. & Jonsson, B. The end of the international reference pricing system? Appl. Health Econ. Health Policy http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40258-015-0182-5 (2015).

  11. Chalkidou, K. et al. Evidence-informed frameworks for cost-effective cancer care and prevention in low, middle, and high-income countries. Lancet Oncol. 15, e119–e131 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Jamison, D. T. et al. Global health 2035: a world converging within a generation. Lancet 382, 1898–1955 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Richard Sullivan.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The Institute of Cancer Policy has received unrestricted educational grants from the Global Lung Cancer Coalition, Novartis, and Pfizer for policy studies.

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sullivan, R., Aggarwal, A. Putting a price on cancer. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 13, 137–138 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2016.12

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2016.12

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Translational Research

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma.

Get what matters in translational research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Translational Research