New U.S. cancer drug prices increase 53 pct in 5 yrs: report

LONDON, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- The annual price of a newly-launched cancer drug in the United States averaged 283,000 U.S. dollars last year, a 53 percent increase from 2017, Reuters has reported.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, oncology treatments are nearly four times as costly as other therapies and are largely paid for by taxpayer-funded programs like the U.S. government's Medicare plan for people aged over 65, said the Reuters report on Wednesday, citing a new research from U.S. Democratic Representative Katie Porter.

This new analysis is a first look at the degree to which cancer drugmakers rely on high launch prices, an area left out of the Medicare pricing limits set out in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) signed by U.S. President Joe Biden in August, said the report.

"Launch prices are an important issue and one that is not touched by the IRA," the report quoted Stacie Dusetzina, an associate professor of health policy at Nashville's Vanderbilt University Medical Center who studies drug costs, as saying.

"I do think there is a possibility we see launch prices go up," she said.