Pricing of Monoclonal Antibody Therapies: Higher If Used for Cancer?
- 1 February 2018
- journal article
- research article
- Vol. 24 (2), 109-+
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The rising prices of specialty drugs have prompted a debate about how medications are priced. With the average price of cancer drugs doubling in the last decade, the unsustainability of drug prices is especially concerning in oncology and hematology. The objective of this study was to compare the prices of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) approved in the last 20 years by the FDA across disease states. STUDY DESIGN: We identified all indications approved by the FDA for mAbs from 1997 to 2016 and calculated the annual price of 1-year treatment for each mAb-indication combination as the product of the US average wholesale price per milligram and the recommended dose. METHODS: We compared the annual price of treatment with each mAb across disease states using generalized linear models with gamma distribution and log link, controlling for route of administration, chemical structure, source, and time since FDA approval. RESULTS: The average annual price of a mAb was $96,731, exceeding $100,000 for 34 mAb-indication combinations. Oncology and hematology mAbs represented 40% of the mAb-indication combinations approved, yet they accounted for more than 85% of those priced $100,000 or higher. After adjusting for factors that can affect production costs, the annual price of oncology or hematology mAbs was $149,622 higher than those used in cardiovascular or metabolic disorders; $98,981 higher than in immunology; $128,856 higher than in infectious diseases or allergy; and $106,830 higher than in ophthalmology (all P <. 001). CONCLUSIONS: The annual price of mAb therapies is about $100,000 higher in oncology and hematology than in other disease states.This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit:
- Addressing Skyrocketing Cancer Drug Prices Comes With TradeoffsJAMA Oncology, 2016
- Payer and Policy Maker Steps to Support Value-Based Pricing for DrugsJAMA, 2015
- ERRATAJournal of Clinical Oncology, 2015
- Trends in the Cost and Use of Targeted Cancer Therapies for the Privately Insured Nonelderly: 2001 to 2011Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2015
- Are high drug prices for hematologic malignancies justified? A critical analysisCancer, 2015
- New Expensive Treatments for Hepatitis C InfectionPublished by American Medical Association (AMA) ,2014
- High Cancer Drug Prices in the United States: Reasons and Proposed SolutionsJournal of Oncology Practice, 2014
- The Just Price of Cancer Drugs and the Growing Cost of Cancer Care: Oncologists Need to Be Part of the SolutionJournal of Clinical Oncology, 2013
- Cancer Drugs in the United States: Justum Pretium—The Just PriceJournal of Clinical Oncology, 2013
- Market spiral pricing of cancer drugsCancer, 2013