{"entity":{"id":"paper-prasad-nat-rev-clin-oncol","kind":"paper","name":"The high price of anticancer drugs: origins, implications, barriers, solutions","aka":[],"tldr":"Paper cited by one bottleneck page and 21 idea pages, indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 28290490 and published in Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology; the citing pages link this DOI, which is how the record was matched.","summary":"Globally, annual spending on anticancer drugs is around US$100 billion, and is predicted to rise to $150 billion by 2020. In the USA, a novel anticancer drug routinely costs more than $100,000 per year of treatment. When adjusted for per capita spending power, however, drugs are most unaffordable in economically developing nations, such as India and China. Not only are launch prices high and rising, but individual drug prices are often escalated during exclusivity periods. High drug prices harm patients - often directly through increased out-of-pocket expenses, which reduce levels of patient compliance and lead to unfavourable outcomes - and harms society - by imposing cumulative price burdens that are unsustainable. Moreover, high drug prices are not readily explained by rational factors, including the extent of benefit patients are likely to derive, the novelty of the agents, or spending on research and development. Herein, we summarize the available empirical evidence on the costs of anticancer drugs, probe the origins and implications of these high costs, and discuss proposed solutions.\n\nIndexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 28290490 (DOI 10.1038/nrclinonc.2017.31). Matched by DOI alone: one bottleneck page and 21 idea pages cite this DOI among their external links (the pages are listed under Related), and this page was written so that the citation resolves inside OnCo. No figure has been checked by an editor.","asOf":"2026-09-22","links":[{"label":"Nat Rev Clin Oncol 2017","url":"https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2017.31"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28290490/"},{"label":"Europe PMC","url":"https://europepmc.org/article/MED/28290490"}],"tags":["europepmc-ingest"],"related":["b-drug-pricing","idea-reg-middle-income-negotiation-bloc","idea-reg-pd1-biosimilar-advance-commitment","idea-reg-net-price-transparency-registry","idea-reg-market-expansion-repricing","idea-reg-biosimilar-first-default-switching","idea-reg-patent-buyout-prize","idea-reg-price-anchored-to-mcbs","idea-reg-rd-cost-disclosure-condition","idea-reg-tiered-pricing-for-exclusivity","idea-reg-secondary-patent-thicket-limits","idea-reg-indication-specific-pricing","idea-reg-annuity-payment-durable-therapies","idea-moon-pay-for-cure-contracts","idea-moon-neoantigen-vaccines-at-scale","idea-reg-provisional-price-until-os","idea-reg-academic-cart-at-cost-coverage","idea-reg-public-deescalation-trials-for-cost","idea-reg-weight-based-io-dosing-label","idea-reg-financial-toxicity-vital-sign","idea-reg-social-impact-bond-switching","idea-reg-io-subscription-national"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":["nature-reviews-clinical-oncology"],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"journal":"Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology","year":2017,"doi":"10.1038/nrclinonc.2017.31","pmid":"28290490","authors":"Prasad V, De Jesús K, Mailankody S","paperType":"review","findings":[],"whatItMeans":"One bottleneck page and 21 idea pages on OnCo cite this paper by its DOI; this record gives the citation a page of its own so a reader can follow it without leaving OnCo. Read the abstract above alongside the citing pages listed under Related; the record was created automatically from the Europe PMC entry and its figures have not been checked by hand.","caveats":["Matched to the citing OnCo records by DOI alone; the summary reproduces the Europe PMC abstract and no figure has been verified against the full paper."]},"route":"/key-papers/paper-prasad-nat-rev-clin-oncol/","neighbours":{"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-drug-pricing","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Prices and value","route":"/bottlenecks/b-drug-pricing/"}],"idea":[{"id":"idea-reg-middle-income-negotiation-bloc","kind":"idea","name":"A joint price negotiation bloc for middle-income countries, modelled on Beneluxa","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-middle-income-negotiation-bloc/"},{"id":"idea-reg-pd1-biosimilar-advance-commitment","kind":"idea","name":"An advance market commitment for PD-1 biosimilars for lower-income countries","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-pd1-biosimilar-advance-commitment/"},{"id":"idea-reg-net-price-transparency-registry","kind":"idea","name":"An international registry of real (net) cancer drug prices paid by public payers","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-net-price-transparency-registry/"},{"id":"idea-reg-market-expansion-repricing","kind":"idea","name":"Automatic price cuts when a cancer drug's approved indications and volumes expand","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-market-expansion-repricing/"},{"id":"idea-reg-biosimilar-first-default-switching","kind":"idea","name":"Biosimilar-first defaults and payment parity in every cancer day unit","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-biosimilar-first-default-switching/"},{"id":"idea-reg-patent-buyout-prize","kind":"idea","name":"Buy out the patent on a curative cancer drug and sell it at generic prices","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-patent-buyout-prize/"},{"id":"idea-reg-price-anchored-to-mcbs","kind":"idea","name":"Cap public prices for new cancer drugs to tiers of the ESMO and ASCO value scales","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-price-anchored-to-mcbs/"},{"id":"idea-reg-rd-cost-disclosure-condition","kind":"idea","name":"Disclose R&D and manufacturing costs of publicly funded cancer drugs to get coverage","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-rd-cost-disclosure-condition/"},{"id":"idea-reg-tiered-pricing-for-exclusivity","kind":"idea","name":"Grant extra exclusivity only in exchange for binding low prices in poorer countries","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-tiered-pricing-for-exclusivity/"},{"id":"idea-reg-secondary-patent-thicket-limits","kind":"idea","name":"Limit secondary patents and pay-for-delay so cancer generics arrive on time","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-secondary-patent-thicket-limits/"},{"id":"idea-reg-indication-specific-pricing","kind":"idea","name":"Pay a different price for the same cancer drug depending on the indication","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-indication-specific-pricing/"},{"id":"idea-reg-annuity-payment-durable-therapies","kind":"idea","name":"Pay for one-time curative therapies as an annuity that stops at relapse","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-annuity-payment-durable-therapies/"},{"id":"idea-moon-pay-for-cure-contracts","kind":"idea","name":"Pay-for-cure contracts: instalment payments for curative therapies contingent on durable remission","route":"/ideas/idea-moon-pay-for-cure-contracts/"},{"id":"idea-moon-neoantigen-vaccines-at-scale","kind":"idea","name":"Personalised cancer vaccines at commodity cost through fully automated manufacturing","route":"/ideas/idea-moon-neoantigen-vaccines-at-scale/"},{"id":"idea-reg-provisional-price-until-os","kind":"idea","name":"Provisional prices for surrogate-endpoint approvals, reset when survival data arrive","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-provisional-price-until-os/"},{"id":"idea-reg-academic-cart-at-cost-coverage","kind":"idea","name":"Public payers cover academic CAR-T at cost as a benchmark for commercial prices","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-academic-cart-at-cost-coverage/"},{"id":"idea-reg-public-deescalation-trials-for-cost","kind":"idea","name":"Publicly funded trials of lower and less frequent doses of expensive cancer drugs","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-public-deescalation-trials-for-cost/"},{"id":"idea-reg-weight-based-io-dosing-label","kind":"idea","name":"Restore weight-based dosing and vial sharing for immunotherapy in the label","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-weight-based-io-dosing-label/"},{"id":"idea-reg-financial-toxicity-vital-sign","kind":"idea","name":"Screen every cancer patient for financial toxicity as a vital sign, with navigation","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-financial-toxicity-vital-sign/"},{"id":"idea-reg-social-impact-bond-switching","kind":"idea","name":"Social impact bonds that fund biosimilar switching, repaid from payer savings","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-social-impact-bond-switching/"},{"id":"idea-reg-io-subscription-national","kind":"idea","name":"Subscription pricing for checkpoint inhibitors: fixed national fee, unlimited use","route":"/ideas/idea-reg-io-subscription-national/"}],"journal":[{"id":"nature-reviews-clinical-oncology","kind":"journal","name":"Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology","route":"/journals/nature-reviews-clinical-oncology/"}]}}