Gyawali Bishal, Sullivan Richard
a Institute of Cancer Policy, King's College London , London , UK.
b KHP Comprehensive Cancer Centre , London , UK.
New Bioeth. 2017 Apr;23(1):95-104. doi: 10.1080/20502877.2017.1314885.
Although new cancer drugs are continually getting approved and used, the value that these drugs add is very debatable. Because of the skyrocketing cost of the new drugs, each new approval represents a multibillion market. However, unlike other branches of economics, cancer drugs are intricately associated with socio-political issues, emotional overlay, public pressure, industry manipulation and propaganda. In this article, we review the value added by new cancer drugs and examine the socio-political agenda around them with highlights on the increasing gulf between high-income and low-middle income countries regarding the affordability to these drugs. Finally, we also suggest a way forward to address this highly complex issue.
尽管新的癌症药物不断获批并投入使用，但其所带来的价值极具争议。由于新药成本飞涨，每次新药获批都意味着一个数十亿美元的市场。然而，与经济学的其他分支不同，癌症药物与社会政治问题、情感因素、公众压力、行业操纵及宣传错综复杂地联系在一起。在本文中，我们回顾了新型癌症药物所带来的价值，并审视围绕这些药物的社会政治议程，重点关注高收入国家与中低收入国家在这些药物可及性方面日益扩大的差距。最后，我们还提出了应对这一高度复杂问题的前进方向。
