New cancer drugs more cost effective than expected, claim

The New York, USA-based Center for Medicine in the Public Interest has released a study by Frank Lichtenberg, a professor at Columbia University Columbia University and the National Bureau of Economic Research, showing a direct association between access to new cancer drugs and increases in life expectancy and survival from cancer between the years 1991-2003. In the research paper, titled: The Effect of Chemotherapy Innovation on Cancer Survival, 1991-2003: State Level Evidence from the SEER-Medicare Linked Database, Prof Lichtenberg found that each additional year of cancer-free life attributable to the newer drugs cost $4,300, a fraction of the $250,000 other economists have estimated.

"The results of this report unequivocally conclude that if cancer patients obtain new therapies faster they will have longer and more productive lives," the report's author noted.

The study investigates the effect of chemotherapy innovation and other factors on the hazard rate of cancer patients using longitudinal, state-level data on four major types of cancer (colorectal, lung, breast and prostate) in nine US states during period 1991-2003.