ASCO RECENTLY issued a position statement on rising cancer drug prices. The statement, asserting that solutions to address the affordability of cancer drugs must also preserve patients’ access to care and foster innovation, analyzes a wide array of options and recommends that a panel of stakeholders be established to determine which proposals will be effective and develop a uniform approach for assessing the value of drugs.
“Drug pricing is clearly too complex and political to tackle without evidence-based solutions,” said ASCO Chief Executive Officer Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, FASCO. “However, ASCO believes we must develop approaches that will protect patients from rising costs while improving care.”
The statement also highlights that patients with cancer are more than twice as likely to declare bankruptcy as those without cancer, and that many patients forgo or delay treatments as a result, potentially compromising their effectiveness.
Learn more at asco.org/asco-in-action. ■
© 2017. American Society of Clinical Oncology. All rights reserved.
