From The Washington Post: Science hinted that cancer patients could take less of a $148,000-a-year drug. Its maker tripled the price of a pill.
"The science behind Imbruvica suggested that it could work at lower doses, and early clinical evidence indicated that patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia might do just as well on one or two pills a day after completing an initial round of treatment at three pills per day.
The researchers at the Value in Cancer Care Consortium, a nonprofit focused on cutting treatment costs for some of the most expensive drugs, set out to test whether the lower dose was just as effective — and could save patients money."
From Nature: Bringing down the cost of cancer treatment
From JCO: Safety and Efficacy Implications of Discontinuing Combination Ipilimumab and Nivolumab in Advanced Melanoma
"Immune checkpoint blockade with anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD-1 has revolutionized the treatment of a variety of malignancies. Despite recent advances, many outstanding questions, such as the definitions of the optimal dose, schedule, combinations, and duration of therapy; the development of robust predictors of likely benefit; toxicity; and the development of better ways to manage toxicities, still need to be addressed. These questions can only be explored through prospective clinical trials and broad collaborative research."
Vi3C intends to perform research on optimal dose, schedule and duration of immunotherapy agents.
The Value in Cancer Care Consortium: Addressing Financial Toxicity
Cascade of Costs Could Push New Gene Therapy Above $1 Million Per Patient - by Liz Szabo, Keiser Health News
Conversation with The Cancer Letter - Allen Lichter, MD, vi3c board chair.
Vi3C featured at The Washington Post - by Laura McGinley
Shorter Duration of Trastuzumab May Reduce Cardiac Toxicity, Costs, at ASCO Daily News
Some patients with Stage III colon cancer need only half of long-standing course of chemotherapy, at The ASCO POST