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Effective but cost‐prohibitive drugs in breast cancer treatment
Author(s) -
Bines Jose,
Eniu Alexandru
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/cncr.23837
Subject(s) - medicine , breast cancer , intensive care medicine , developing country , cancer treatment , cost–benefit analysis , limited resources , risk analysis (engineering) , cancer , economic growth , ecology , economics , biology
New pharmacologic treatments for early‐stage breast cancer have been proven effective, but many of them are cost prohibitive in low economic settings. Differences in breast cancer mortality rates between developed and developing countries may be because of differences in screening and treatment options, some of which may be unavailable or limited by cost constraints in countries with limited resources. It is well recognized that treatment choices have to be made within budgetary constraints, and treatment guidelines that address the need to stratify treatment options by available resources have been published by the Breast Health Global Initiative. Practical treatment choices need to be made based on the best available cost–effective information. This article reviews new and emerging medical strategies that may improve the cost‐effectiveness equation. Cancer 2008;113(8 suppl):2353–8. © 2008 American Cancer Society.