The United States pays the highest prices in the world for generic and brand-name cancer drugs, a new study has found.
However, as the world's wealthiest nation, the United States is better able to pay for those pricey drugs than poorer countries with somewhat lower medication prices, added study lead author Dr. Daniel Goldstein.
People in China and India are much less able to afford cancer drugs than Americans, he said, even though U.S. monthly drug prices are about three to six times higher in the United States.
That doesn't mean America came out on top in overall drug affordability, however. Developed nations such as Australia, England and Israel had the "best deal" in the world on cancer drugs, thanks to government programs that regulate drug pricing, the study found.
"America is the wealthiest nation, but its drug prices are significantly higher -- so much so that cancer medications are less affordable in the U.S. than developed countries like England or Australia," said Goldstein, who's a senior medical oncologist at Rabin Medical Center in Petach Tkvah, Israel.
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Pharmaceutical companies have us by the short ones. That has to change.
ReplyDeleteI have always thought that cancer is BIG BUSINESS first and patient quality last. I am a cancer survivor and I have seen it in action.
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