In a March 17 letter, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, called on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to take immediate action to lower its share of the $3 billion wasted annually on expensive cancer drugs, according to News 8.
A study published March 1 in BMJ found Medicare and private health insurers waste nearly $3 billion annually buying oversized single dose vials of cancer drugs. The expensive cancer drugs must be either administered or discarded once open and there is nearly always some left over, according to researchers at New York City-based MemorialSloanKetteringCancerCenter, who published the study. The entire amount of the drug in the vial must be paid for, even if there are leftovers that get thrown away.
"I urge you to decrease wasteful spending at the Department of Veterans Affairs from using oversized single-dose vials," the senator wrote, according to the report. "Researchers from MemorialSloanKetteringCancerCenter estimated that oversized single-dose vials of cancer drugs lead to drug wastage costing the United States healthcare system around $3 billion annually. VA must take immediate action to cut costs associated with wasting of expensive drugs."
Sen. Blumenthal outlined a number of suggestions for the VA on how to lower expenditures on cancer drugs, such as requiring drug companies to provide the VA with the best value on pharmaceutical products and to refund the agency for leftover medication in a single-dose vial. He also advised the VA to establish a policy on vial sharing and repacking of single-dose vials when appropriate. Finally, Sen. Blumenthal said the VA must establish a means to track the amount of injectable drugs administered and wasted to monitor the cost of the wasted drugs.