The big C: cancer treatment is increasingly unaffordable

TooManyCocktails

The big C: cancer treatment is increasingly unaffordable

TooManyCocktails

I thought this article was pretty interesting, especially with all the research reports saying that "looking further for nodes will not prolong life" or "that Including internal mammary nodes in the radiation field for breast cancer doesn't improve outcomes, except perhaps in those with a low burden of positive nodes"....

Here's where the article can be found.  I believe it's a Britishn newspaper.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8791979/The-big-C-cancer-treatment-is-increasingly-unaffordable.html

Here are some things that I noted:

Much of the technology is changing so fast that it has become a very   challenging field for clinicians at the frontline. And patients are often   left bewildered and frightened by the discrepancy between what is being   offered to them and what they read and can find on the internet.

...no   healthcare system can afford to pay for the huge increases involved in   prolonging cancer patients' lives for a few weeks. We are truly at a   crossroads.

Within the next five years, clinical trials will look very different to today.   Only patients whose cancers display the relevant biomarker pattern that   suggests responsiveness to a new drug will be entered. After 24 hours of   drug administration, we will be able to measure signals of response.

sam52

Yes, this is a British newspaper. And refers to the British system.

The UK system of drug-rationing is based on cost. There is a body known as NICE ( National something-or-other- for Clinical Excellence), made up of a panel of people who make decisions based on COST-EFFECTIVENESS; thus a drug may be licensed or not. They are literally playing God with people's lives.

Can you believe it took one woman to sell her house to get Herceptin, before there was an outcry and it was finally licensed by NICE. It is a similar story with many other cancer drugs. It sucks.