Cost Of Cancer Treatments Spirals To $100B In 2014

Cancer has taken its toll not only on the health and lives of people afflicted by the disease but also their finances. A study by the IMD Institute for Healthcare Informatics reports that global spending on cancer treatment went up to $100 billion in 2014.

It grew by a third from $75 billion in 2010, according to the study released on Tuesday, reports The Silver Link. Reckoned from 2013, the amount increased by 10.3 percent. It represents 10.8 percent of total medical spending globally, including the amount for treatment of anemia and nausea.

About 66 percent of that spending is in the US and five of the largest European nations, reports NDTV. Pharmerging nations, which are growing, account for about 13 percent.

As more people get afflicted by the ailment, the report forecasts 6 to 8 percent annual growth rate. That means by 2018, the total spending would further rise between $117 billion and $147 billion.

The non-stop rise is because most of the cancer medication available in the market are very expensive. Other factors are earlier diagnosis, longer time of treatment and increased effectiveness of drug therapies.

For instance, two new drugs – Opdivo and Keytruda – costs the patients $12,500 a month. Opdivo, made by Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Keytruda, manufactured by Merck, are immunotherapies which use the patient’s immune system to cure the cancer.

Between 2010 and 2014, 45 new cancer drugs with introduced in the market, 10 of which came out in 2014. However, despite the large number of new cancer medication, IMS Institute Executive Director Murray Aitken admits “we still have long way to go to win the war on cancer.”

But despite the heavy burden on family finances, the report said the drugs improved patients’ survival rates. Five-year survival rates between 1990 and 2010 for prostate cancer patients went up 18 percent, liver cancer patients by 12 percent and breast cancer by 8 percent.

To contact the writer, email: v.hernandez@ibtimes.com.au