Are Cancer Drugs Becoming Too Costly for Their Effectiveness?

For example, Alimta, from Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY), is the patented version of pemetrexed, a best-selling lung cancer treatment. Just on Thursday Eli Lilly won a patent ruling in Lonadon that offers protection through June 2021 for a drug cocktail including Alimta that was scheduled to lose that protection in several European countries in December. Alimta posted global sales of $2.79 billion in 2014 and is Eli Lilly’s biggest seller.

On a scale of 0 to 100 (or 130 if bonus points are added), the cocktail including Alimta scored a net health benefit of 0 — as in nada, zip, zilch. And for that treatment a patient pays $9,200 a month.

Bevacizumab, the generic name for Avastin from Swiss giant Roche, is another lung cancer drug. Avastin costs $11,900 a month and scored 16 on the ASCO scorecard.

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Another high cost cancer treatment, Jevtana from Sanofi (NYSE: SNY), costs $10,700 a month and gets a net health benefit score of 16. The drug, in combination with prednisone, is used to treat prostate cancer.

A drug’s score may vary, depending on the type of cancer being treated. Avastin, according to a report at FiercePharma, which was first approved to treat colorectal cancer, has better overall survival data in that disease, but the examples provided by ASCO did not include the field.

ASCO’s president said:

Value and cost are among the biggest issues in healthcare today, but there are few tools to help doctors and patients objectively assess benefits, side effects and costs. Our goal is to help oncologists and their patients weigh potential treatment options based on high-quality scientific evidence and a thoughtful assessment of each patient’s needs and goals.

The ASCO Value Framework article is available here.

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