Combination therapy shown to be more effective in treating cancer — but also more expensive

As cancer research furthers, physicians, patients, insurers and even pharmaceutical companies are being forced to weigh benefits against the costs.

Researchers are finding that combination therapy — using two or more drugs at a time — is much more effective in treating cancer than using a single drug, but it also means treatment costs are significantly higher, The Wall Street Journal reported. For example, the first immunotherapy combination, which was approved last year by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat melanoma, costs more than $250,000 per patient for the first year, according to the report.

While there is no one solution to the issue yet, some have been proposed. WSJ notes Roche, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, is considering a "combination-based pricing" model and has priced a breast-cancer drug lower than others because it knows it will often be used in combination with other drugs, according to the report.

Until a solution is found, the issue puts additional pressure on the already strained subject of drug pricing.

 

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