UCSF

Importance

Many economic theories point to regulatory issues and subsidization of research and development costs as the primary factor in the high cancer drug prices in the US. Even so, the association between the median annual cost and novelty of cancer drugs approved in the US remains unclear.

Objective

To evaluate the association between the median annual cost and novelty of cancer drugs approved in the US over a 6-year period.

Design, setting, and participants

This cross-sectional study included all cancer drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2020. Drug names, indications, manufacturer, dosage, and measures of activity/efficacy were extracted from the FDA announcement. The search was performed in December 2021. Data were analyzed from January 2022 until April 2022.

Main outcomes and measures

Annual cost of treatment was calculated based on average wholesale price collected from the 2021 Micromedex Red Book database. Mechanism of action was inferred from trial publication or its references.

Results

There were 224 cancer drug approvals across 119 individual drugs, with a median annual cost of $196 000 (IQR, $170 000-$277 000). Gene and viral therapies were the most expensive (median, $448 000 [IQR, $448 000-$479 000]), followed by small molecule therapy (median, $244 000 [IQR, $203 000-$321 000), and biologics (median, $185 000 [IQR, $148 000-$195 000]). There was no significant difference in cost between first-in-class, next-in-class, and subsequent approvals of an already approved drug.

Conclusions and relevance

Findings of this study indicate that the median annual price of anticancer drugs in the US is not associated with the novelty of their mechanism of action.