December 12, 2016

Hagop Kantarjian and Vivian Ho

The problem of high cancer drug prices in the United States was highlighted in 2013, following a decade during which the average annual price of newly introduced cancer drugs increased from less than $10,000 to more than $100,000 in 2012.

In a for-profit health care industry, drug companies need to make reasonable profits. Annual drug industry profits average 20 percent to compensate for the riskiness of drug research. But the aim of maximizing profits has crossed the line into profiteering at the expense of patients.