The study, published in BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal), details how drugmakers, hospitals and cancer doctors make money on unused cancer medicine. It focuses on the top 20 drugs for multiple cancer types packaged in single-dose vials and for which the dose depends on the patient's weight, finding that 1% to 33% of those 20 cancer drugs, on average, remains in vials after each dose is administered.
Insurers and cancer patients will pay at least another $1 billion on unused medicine in 2016, based on the markups hospitals and doctors charge over a vial's price every time they infuse patients with those cancer drugs, the researchers concluded.
"Some of these drugs are selling for ... 1,000 times the price of gold," said Bach, director of Memorial Sloan Kettering's Center for Health Policy and Outcomes. He said their prices are "breaking the stratosphere," with many costing $15,000 per month or more.
The researchers said Merck's
hot new melanoma drug Keytruda initially was sold in the U.S. in
50-milligram vials, but the company switched to just 100-milligram vials
in the U.S. in February 2015. boosting Merck's revenue from leftover Keytruda
from $500 to $3,000 per patient dose.
In Europe and other places where regulators have more control over drug prices and dose sizes, more vial sizes typically are available, limiting waste.
In Europe and other places where regulators have more control over drug prices and dose sizes, more vial sizes typically are available, limiting waste.
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