By Sarah Boseley – The Guardian.
Top UK and US scientists say high cost for medicines is indefensible as they propose cheaper way to develop them
The high price of new cancer drugs is indefensible and unsustainable, say two of the world’s leading cancer research institutions, who propose a different way to develop them that could sideline big pharma.
“There is a clear and urgent necessity to lower cancer drug prices to keep lifesaving drugs available and affordable to patients,” say leading scientists from the Institute of Cancer Research in the UK and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where many important new cancer drugs have been invented, in a paper in the journal Cell.
In the US, cancer bills are the leading cause of personal bankruptcy, while in the UK, drugs that might prolong life are rejected for NHS use because of their pric…read the full story.