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Previous Volume 360:626-633 February 5, 2009 Number 6 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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Fifteen years ago, the only commonly used cancer drug on the market that cost more than $2,500 per month was paclitaxel (Taxol, Bristol-Myers Squibb), which Chabner and Roberts labeled the first cancer "blockbuster."¹ Today, cancer drugs that come on the market routinely cost many times that amount (Figure 1). Several established cancer drugs have recently seen price increases, which has added to the general upward trend in prices. Nitrogen mustard, a drug that has been used to treat cancer since 1949, saw its price for a course of treatment increase by a factor of 13 between the beginning . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Medicare's Strategies for Keeping Down Costs

Control of Utilization

Control of Prices

Control of Both Utilization and Prices

Laws and Regulations Inhibiting Medicare's Flexibility

Drug Coverage

Drug Interchangeability

Private Payers and Cancer Drugs

Discussion

Source Information

From the Health Outcomes Research Group, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York.

This article (10.1056/NEJMhpr0807774) was published at NEJM.org on January 27, 2009.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Mileshkin, L., Schofield, P. E., Jefford, M., Agalianos, E., Levine, M., Herschtal, A., Savulescu, J., Thomson, J. A., Zalcberg, J. R. (2009). To Tell or Not to Tell: The Community Wants to Know About Expensive Anticancer Drugs As a Potential Treatment Option. JCO 27: 5830-5837 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Yabroff, K. R., Schrag, D. (2009). Challenges and Opportunities for Use of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis. JNCI J Natl Cancer Inst 101: 1161-1163 [Full Text]