Ont. will foot bill for costly cancer drugs
By APRIL LINDGREN, CANWEST NEWS SERVICE, TORONTO
Hundreds of Ontario cancer patients, including many suffering from the most advanced and deadly versions of the disease, will have access to four costly new cancer drugs to be financed at public expense, the provincial government announced Friday
The government will spend $8.2 million this year supplying the drugs to an estimated 1,400 patients who are undergoing treatment in hospitals or on an outpatient basis.
Costs will double to $15 million next year for the treatment of an estimated 2,400 patients.
At least one of the drugs, Velcade, garnered media attention earlier this year as patients with multiple myeloma - a deadly form of blood cancer - revealed their struggle to raise enough money to purchase the treatment. A course of Velcade treatment costs $28.000.Tarceva. used to treat late-stage lung cancer, costs $12.000 for a six-month treatment regime. Tomudex, for treatment of a form of lung cancer caused by asbestos exposure, costs $3,000 while Taxotere, used to counter early stage breast cancer. costs $2,400.
Cancer Care Ontario chief executive officer Terry Sullivan said recommendations on whether the government should fund a new drug are made by independent professionals on the province's Drug Quality and Therapeutics Committee. The committee, he said. does its evaluation based on the cost and overall of effectiveness of the drug, basically relating its price to the life-years gained.
"Publicity isn't and hasn't been a big factor" in the decisions, Sullivan insisted.
Ontario will spend about $160 million this year on cancer treatment drugs provided in hospitals or on an outpatient basis.