Report Store | Pharma intelligence
  • My Account
    • 0Shopping Cart
  • $0.00
  • Disease analysis
    • Anemias
    • Bacterial infections
    • Bleeding disorders
    • Brain Cancer
    • Breast and gynecological cancer
    • Cardiovascular and Metabolic
    • Central Nervous System
    • Cerebrovascular diseases
    • Dermatology
    • Diabetes and diabetic complications
    • Gastroenterology
    • Gastrointestinal cancer
    • Head and Neck Cancer
    • Hypertension
    • Immunology and Inflammation
    • Infectious Diseases
    • Ischemic heart disease
    • Leukemia
    • Lung Cancer
    • Lymphoma
    • Oncology overview
    • Market Spotlight
    • Mens Health
    • Neurology
    • Oncology
    • Ophthalmology
    • Other Hematological Cancers
    • Other metabolic diseases
    • Other Solid Cancers
    • Pain
    • Psychiatry
    • Respiratory
    • Rheumatology
    • Skin cancer
    • Thrombosis
    • Urological cancer
    • Vaccines
    • Viral infections
    • Women’s Health
  • Strategy analysis
    • Bleeding disorders
    • Breast and gynecological cancer
    • Cardiovascular and Metabolic
    • Central Nervous System
    • Commercial Strategy
    • Dealmaking and R&D
    • Head and Neck Cancer
    • Hot Topics
    • Infectious Diseases
    • KOL Insight
    • Leukemia
    • Lung Cancer
    • Manufacturing
    • Market Access
    • Neurology
    • Oncology
    • Outsourcing
    • Pricing & Reimbursement
    • R&D
    • Regulatory & Therapeutic Area
    • Trends
    • Urological cancer
  • Company analysis
    • Big Pharma
    • Emerging Pharma
    • Hot Topics
    • Japan Pharma
    • M&A Analysis
    • Mid Pharma
  • Drug analysis
    • A
    • B-C
    • D-F
    • G-L
    • M-O
    • P-R
    • S-T
    • U-Z
  • MedTech analysis
    • Allergy
    • Autoimmune / Immunology
    • Cardiovascular
    • Dermatology
    • Endocrine
    • ENT / Dental
    • Gastroenterology
    • Hearing
    • Hematology
    • Infectious Diseases
    • Metabolic
    • Neurology
    • Obstetrics / Gynecology
    • Oncology
    • Ophthalmology
    • Orthopedics
    • Osteoporosis
    • Psychiatry
    • Renal
    • Respiratory
    • Rheumatology
    • Urology
  • Opinion & analysis
    • Business Development
    • Business Management
    • Clinical Trials
    • Digital Health
    • Cybersecurity
    • Compliance & Risk
    • Digital patient management
    • Digital policy & regulation
    • Finance & Pricing
    • Healthcare Innovation
    • ICT and Health
    • Leadership
    • Legislation Regulation & Policy
    • Market Access
    • Market Intelligence
    • Medical
    • Pharmaceutical Device
    • Pharmaceutical Research
    • Strategy & Innovation
    • Tech companies & Data
    • Tech & Pharma
  • Blogs
  • Search
  • Menu
You are here: Home > Blogs > Disease > Cancer Awareness Day : Cost Matters

Cancer Awareness Day : Cost Matters

February 4, 2019 | Disease

Melanie senior

Imagine if, by 2034, three quarters of all cancer sufferers survive the disease. That is the aim of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), which leads World Cancer Day on February 4.

It’s an admirable goal. This most deadly and cunning disease is newly-diagnosed in 18 million people across the globe each year. It continues to devastate lives and families, even amid the extraordinary scientific progress driving new treatments.

These same new treatments, while often life-prolonging and sometimes life-saving, also contribute to the huge economic cost of cancer. This was estimated, in a 2014 IARC World Cancer Report, at over $1 trillion per year; it is now likely to be a lot higher.

Discussing the cost of saving lives is awkward, but necessary. This necessity is reflected in the ongoing pricing debate across pharma more broadly, as governments and payers seek sustainable ways to fund a growing range of more sophisticated medicines.

Disease prevention strategies provide part of the answer. Investing $11 billion in cancer prevention strategies in low- to middle-income countries could save ten times that in treatment costs, according to Knaul et al.’s 2012 book, “Investing in Cancer Care and Control.” And while prevention does not, at first glance, look like a great commercial model for pharmaceutical companies, investors have not shied away from supporting companies like GRAIL Inc., which is seeking a test to detect cancer early, when it can be more successfully treated.

GRAIL has raised over $1.5 billion in the last three years. The privately-owned company is about to begin a prospective longitudinal study of 50,000 people without cancer, to determine how well its next-generation sequencing-based blood test can detect cancer. About half of the participants will be considered ‘high-risk’ for lung and other cancer types, due to smoking history. The study will be conducted in partnership with the UK’s University College London and the UCL Hospitals National Health Service Foundation Trust, along with Lung Cancer Alliance, a non-profit based in Washington, DC.

Partnerships are key to combating cancer, at any stage. Industry, charities, governments, providers, patients and the public must work together, locally, nationally and internationally. This is true for prevention strategies – requiring governments and

communities to promote and support healthy lifestyles; for early detection – requiring companies and health systems to implement more widespread, effective screening; and for successful treatment.

Effective cancer treatment, increasingly, means more personalised treatment. Personalised or precision medicine is being enabled by new technologies and new kinds of data, allowing scientists to combine patients’ genomic and other molecular data with clinical and life-style information to create a fuller picture of their disease – and to choose the most appropriate treatment.

According to a 2018 paper by Marquart et al. in JAMA Oncology, just over 8% of US cancer patients are eligible for FDA-approved, genome-driven cancer therapies. About 5% would actually benefit from the treatment. Those numbers may not appear very high (and they also assume universal testing and access, which is far from reality). But the authors say the figures have increased linearly by 0.5% annually between 2006 and 2018.

Precision medicine will play a greater role in future, as tests become more accurate, cheaper and accessible. But practical and economic constraints make them difficult to scale. So investment must continue into broader therapeutic strategies like cytotoxic drugs and into non-personalised immuno-therapies. Indeed, amid the plethora of exciting new immuno-therapy approaches (such as cancer vaccines and oncolytic viruses) practical considerations such as cost and manufacturing are, increasingly, front of mind.

That’s in part because of the competition. Oncology is the hottest therapy area for deals and fundraising across the life sciences. Competition is forcing developers to think beyond the science in order to differentiate their offerings. It is forcing them to consider the economic costs of cancer.

That’s good news for everyone.

Related Products

Market Spotlight: Mesothelioma
Market Spotlight: Biliary Tract Cancer

FacebookTweetPin

Related posts:

Coronavirus: A catalyst for digital health?
Disease

Coronavirus: A catalyst for digital health?

  • March, 20 2020
  • 1606

Every cloud has a silver lining. Coronavirus will be the same. One of its silver linings may be faster uptake of digital health tools and gadgets, as individuals are compelled to remain at home amid one of the century’s most concerning pandemics.   

More Options for Ovarian cancer
Disease

More Options for Ovarian cancer

  • March, 17 2020
  • 1068

One in 78 women will suffer from ovarian cancer during their lifetime. The condition accounts for more deaths than any other cancer of the reproductive system – and ranks fifth in overall cancer deaths among women.  The good news is that the range

The Big 2020 Challenge
Disease

The Big 2020 Challenge

  • January, 16 2020
  • 2188

Over the last three decades, the biotechnology industry has transformed our medicines cabinet, bringing new, effective treatments for a range of unmet needs, from rare genetic conditions, to stubborn cancers and debilitating chronic diseases. Yet several

Related Content
Read more
  • Home
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Refund policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Discounts
  • Market Spotlight – Reports
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • Sitemap
Copyright © 2022 Pharma Intelligence UK Limited Pharma Intelligence UK Limited is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 13787459 whose registered office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG. Pharma Intelligence UK Limited is part of the Pharma Intelligence Group.
Immuno-Oncology: Still the hottest game in town As Rare Disease Drugs Multiply, So Must Creative Ways to Pay for Them

Sign up to the Pharma Intelligence Report Store Newsletter to get the latest blogs, news, reports and discounts!

Pharma Intelligence
This is operated by Pharma Intelligence UK Limited, a company registered in England and Wales with company number 13787459 whose registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. The Pharma Intelligence group is owned by Caerus Topco S.à r.l. and all copyright resides with the group.
Call Back
Scroll to top