Study finds melanoma treatment costs have increased, but so has survival
Source: Healio, September 2023
Key takeaways:
- In comparing the period between 2007 and 2012 with 2018 and 2019, systemic therapy cost increased sixfold to ninefold.
- The 3-year overall survival rate increased from 65.8% to 74.2% in the same time frame.
While the adoption of immunotherapies and targeted systemic therapies for the treatment of melanoma has increased overall survival in patients, it has also significantly increased health care costs, according to a study.
“Health care costs for cancer treatment are escalating, with approximately $173 billion in the U.S. and more than $7 billion in Canada during 2020 alone,” Sarah B. Bateni, MD, MAS, of the Odette Cancer Center, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto, and colleagues wrote. “Because melanoma is the eighth most common cancer in Canada and the fifth most common in the U.S., it represents a source of significant health care expenditure.”