Science•Mar 2 ’24 1:22 PMAuthor: Bram van Eijndhoven
New cancer medication does not always have demonstrable added value, according to a study by Utrecht University. Global expenditure on cancer medicines is now increasing rapidly, from more than 150 billion euros in 2020 to an expected 250 billion in 2025.
New cancer medications are often insufficiently effective, costs are rising explosively
5 min 44 sec
The research focused on new cancer drugs that are marketed by companies as a new brand. “We looked at a large number of new medicines that came onto the market between 1995 and 2020,” says Wim Goettsch, professor of Health Technology Assessment of Pharmaceuticals at Utrecht University.
Research costs are quickly recouped
The research shows that as many as 40 percent of these new medicines have little or no demonstrable added value. Of the medicines that do have added value, almost 20 percent have a small added value and the remaining 40 percent a large added value.
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Goettsch calls it ‘worrying’ that there is insufficient evidence of effectiveness for so many drugs when they come onto the market. ‘Because these drugs often have serious side effects, so you hope that they also have a good effect. And on the other hand, we see that the research costs for those types of resources are also recouped within a number of years. So the question is: do we properly stimulate which cancer drugs are delivered to the patient?’
Fairly limited studies
In the Netherlands, the intention is that such new, often expensive and disruptive medicines will only appear on the market if they are demonstrably better than the medicines we already have. According to Goettsch, the solution lies in making good agreements with the European Medicines Agency earlier in the inspection process.
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“The problem is that we are now increasingly seeing resources coming to the Healthcare Institute, where they look at added value and cost-effectiveness, which are based on fairly limited studies,” said the professor. ‘So it may be good for the patient in the future, but the data does not sufficiently show that. Then there is a lot of uncertainty and we cannot claim that it has added value based on that data.’
New cancer medication does not always have demonstrable added value, according to a study by Utrecht University. Global expenditure on cancer medicines is now rising rapidly, from more than 150 billion euros in 2020 to an expected 250 billion in 2025. ANP / Hollandse Hoogte / Laurens van Putten (ANP / Laurens van Putten)
2024-03-02 12:22:26
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