Cancer Breakthroughs Meet Market Realities

cp418

Benefits, Drawbacks Of Molecularly Tailored Cancer Treatments Discussed.

Bloomberg News (11/1, Postrel) reports on the benefits and drawbacks of molecularly tailored cancer treatments. The article says the "good news is that more cures should be possible, with less waste from giving the wrong patients drugs that won't work in their particular cases," which "potentially could save money and significantly reduce suffering." However, the article later points out the economic problem with these treatments, noting that it costs about $1 billion to develop and test new medication. Bloomberg News says, "for blockbuster biologics like Gleevec [imatinib] or Genentech Inc.'s (ROG) Herceptin[trastuzumab], which treats HER2-positive breast cancer, the right patients are numerous and easily identifiable," but "most mutations - or combinations of mutations - are much rarer, making the markets for drugs to address them much smaller." The article notes that "as cancers and treatments are defined more and more precisely at the molecular level, nearly every form of cancer could become an 'orphan disease' with a narrow, potentially unprofitable market for drugs."

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-31/cancer-breakthroughs-meet-market-realities.html

jenrio

That's why luminal B, Her2,TN breast cancer even metastatic breast cancer should be redefined as orphan disease and the process for clinical trial/research be funded more and shortened.

good post.   thanks