The New York Times explores the economics of several expensive new cancer drugs, looking at the history and advantages of relatively new treatments like Genetech's Avastin and ImClone's now notorious colorectal drug Erbitux. Pricing for these drugs is often prohibitively expensive, sometimes as much as $100,000 for a treatment lasting only a few months. The paper examines the trade offs involved with the use of these therapies and the factors which often lead doctors to prescribe them, even in cases where they may not be much help.
- see this story from The New York Times