Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Washington Post editorial on cancer-drug prices echoes the recent opinion piece in NYT re Zaltrap (#msg-80599468):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/making-cancer-drugs-less-expensive/2013/02/22/d8c8983e-7795-11e2-aa12-e6cf1d31106b_story.html

We believe that the price of cancer drugs is too high. Those already-high prices, which continue to rise rapidly, are an increasingly significant issue in U.S. health-care expenditures. The average monthly price of cancer drugs has doubled over the past 10 years, from about $5,000 to more than $10,000. Of the 12 new cancer drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration last year, 11 were priced above $100,000 annually. Yet only three were found to improve patient survival rates and, of these, two increased survival by less than two months.

The authors are prominent oncologists at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

The Zaltrap editorial in the NYT, which was penned by doctors at Sloan Kettering, eventually caused SNY to cut the US price by 50% (#msg-81295132).