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New anti-cancer drugs are more expensive but not necessarily more effective

 

New anti-cancer drugs: low added value in terms of efficiency "

October is coming to an end and this month dedicated to raising awareness and fighting breast cancer is an opportunity to come back to the cost of treatments to treat cancer in general. A subject that comes up regularly on the carpet, both the prices of anticancer drugs are high. At the start of 2019, our colleagues from Capital had also denounced the " extravagant price Of two new drugs, Yescarta and Kimriah, costing € 350,000 and € 320,000 respectively per patient.

This time, it’s Le Figaro who recalls the cost of these drugs and denounces at the same time their " low added value in terms of efficiency ". Indeed, our colleagues interviewed Patricia Marino, from the Paoli-Calmettes Institute, who has just presented her work at the Esmo Cancer Congress which took place in Madrid, Spain. The researcher points to 48% to 70% of the 36 drugs approved in 68 indications.

 

Cancer: are new drugs better than old ones?

According to Patricia Marino, " it may be time for patients and doctors alikestop thinking that new treatments are necessarily much better than old ones »We read in the columns of Figaro. The newspaper moderates however its remarks, by recalling that these anticancer drugs are not used “ to nothing ". He cites for example situations where the patient does not support the reference treatment and must take another medicine.

According to the survey, the reference treatment would cost € 2,314 compared to € 4,616 for the other anti-cancer drugs. A significant price difference which wouldn’t always be explained in terms of the patient’s benefit. As a reminder, Patricia Marino is a health economist and performs audits on the cost of drugs.

 Perrine Deurot-Bien

Read also: All about the different cancers