STAT+: U.S. cancer drug prices were higher at launch than in three European countries — and just kept climbing
In the latest bid to compare drug costs, a new study finds that prices for dozens of cancer medicines were substantially higher when introduced into the U.S. market compared with three wealthy European countries — and they continued to climb at a rate faster than inflation over a decade.
At the same time, the prices in those three other countries — Germany, England, and Switzerland — decreased after accounting for inflation. Moreover, there was no association found between the clinical benefit of the 65 solid tumor and blood cancer medicines, the launch prices, or subsequent price changes in any of the countries, according to the study in JAMA Oncology.
