The big business with cancer drugs

Cost of cancer drugs in Germany extremely high and rising
Do pharmaceutical companies take advantage of the plight of cancer patients and launch their medicines at overpriced prices? The current Barmer Pharmaceutical Report 2017 shows that the cost of cancer drugs is exploding. Due to the increased number of those affected, the cost increases can not be explained, according to the statement of the health insurance. By 2011, spending on oncology medicines in outpatient care for Barmer insured persons had increased by as much as 41 percent.

According to Barmer, the cost increases for cancer drugs clearly exceed those of all other drugs (without prescriptions). In the same period, they only grew by around 20 percent. This gives the impression that the pharmaceutical companies are inappropriately enriching themselves with drugs for cancer patients. A suspicion that has been confirmed in several places in the current Barmer Medicinal Product Report.

Cancer medicines are extremely expensive in Germany and often insufficiently investigated in terms of benefit and risk. (Image: auremar / fotolia.com)

Germany the leader in the cost of cancer drugs
The authors of the report specifically compared the costs of 31 cancer drugs in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Germany is the unfortunate front runner here. In 90 percent (28 out of 31), the prices were above the median, eight of the 31 cancer drugs cost in this country even the most, reports the health insurance. For years, the prices for cancer drugs in Germany have risen.

Strong sales of cancer medicines
While in the nineties, the drug costs for a typical chemotherapy in the first phase of therapy according to the Barmer still converted at a few thousand euros, ten years later, already tens of thousands of euros have been common and today will in many cases a magnitude of one hundred thousand euros and more reached. For example, in the treatment of patients with skin cancer, treatment costs would have increased almost eightfold in five years. Five of the top ten drugs with the highest sales increase are used to treat tumors, Barmer continues.

Approved as an orphan drug
"The goal of the pharmaceutical manufacturers is the maximum turnover, our goal is in the interest of patients and contributors a realistic price-performance ratio," emphasizes Professor. Christoph Straub, CEO of Barmer. Even with cancer drugs, "so blessed many of them work", fair prices are important. Furthermore, the Barmer criticizes the detectable trend to apply for an approval as so-called "orphan drug" more and more frequently for oncological drugs. These are medications for the treatment of rare diseases, which require less evidence of the benefits and safety for their approval.

Inadequate study of benefit and risk
"Pharmaceutical companies seem to be very interested in licensing cancer drugs as orphan drugs," says study author Professor Dr. Daniel Grandt from the Hospital Saarbrücken. In 2015, one third of the newly launched drugs were orphan drugs. At the time of approval, many of these drugs were first tested in less than 100 patients and randomized comparative studies would usually be absent. Even ten years later, the clinical trials required at the time of admission had not yet been performed.

Regular early benefit assessment required
"All patients have a right to know what the risks of an orphan drug," criticized Professor Grandt the lack of studies. For the sake of patient safety, the orphan drugs should therefore undergo a regular, early benefit assessment, according to the expert's request. In addition, especially these drugs should also be re-evaluated at a later date.

Drug expenditure reaches almost five billion euros
According to the figures of the current Barmer Pharmaceuticals Report, Barmer's health insurance premiums (excluding prescriptions) for insured persons in 2016 increased by 3.5 percent over the previous year. This increase is mainly due to multiple prescriptions, less on an increase in the average cost of medicines, reports the Barmer. The volume of total expenditure on medicines reached € 4.72 billion (€ 3.89 billion in 2012). Sales leader (€ 134 million) was the active ingredient adalilumab, which is marketed under the trade name Humira® as a drug for rheumatoid arthritis and chronic inflammatory bowel disease. In second place was the blood thinner Xarelto® (active substance rivaroxaban) with 90 million euros and in third place the cancer drug Avastin® (active ingredient bevacizumab) with a turnover of almost 87 million euros. (Fp)