Although the cure for cancer hasn't been discovered yet, for the past decade, researchers have been developing cancer-fighting drugs aimed at prolonging a patient's life. The latest addition to this list of cancer drug treatments is Provenge, which costs a whopping $93,000 a year and adds four months' survival, on average, for men with incurable prostate tumors. Bob Svensson, former corporate finance officer, decided to get the treatment because his insurance paid for it. "I would not spend that money because the benefit doesn't seem worth it," says Svensson, had it not been for the supplemental Medicare plan he was signed up for which pays for Provenge. Usually, people can try these cancer-treatment drugs for a few months and keep using it only if they see results. But Provenge is an all-or-nothing $93,000 gamble. It's a one-time treatment to train the immune system to fight prostate tumors.
However this is usually not the case. For most people, the drugs may buy them a few months or years. And as time goes on, many people struggle to come up with the money to pay for their treatments. For example, job losses have led some people to stop taking Gleevec, a $4,500-a-month drug by Novartis AG that keeps certain leukemias and stomach cancers in remission. "Higher costs seem to be more accepted for cancer treatment than for other illnesses, but there's no rule on how much is too much," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, the American Cancer Society's deputy chief medical officer. For the last decade, new cancer-fighting drugs have been topping $5,000 a month. In a year, that would be $60,000!
We always describe life as something that is priceless, so is any amount of money worth a few more moments of life? Or could it be that outrageous prices (like Provenge's $93,000) still aren't worth it, even in the face of death?
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6 comments:
In my opinion, I think it's worth the cost to pay for these cancer treatments. Life is precious. You can't put a dollar sign on five more months of life. Plus, those five months may just be the best moments of your life. Cancer treatment, yes, can be costly. But think about how much research goes into paying for and creating these drugs. People have dedicated their lives to researching ways to cure certain cancers. So what's a couple thousand dollars in comparison to ten, twenty, even possibly thirty years of research? In addition, these treatments may have longer effects than the supposed amount of treatment for the patient. Even after cancer patients die, they can act as subjects for doctors to see possibly how well the treatment worked, and can ultimately help doctors improve certain ways of curing these cancers. A year's worth of income for a possible breakthrough progress in the fight versus cancer? I think that's something to think about.
I find these prices outrageous considering it doesn't even cost the business, that makes the medication, that much to produce it. I feel industries try to just cheat people out of money because they know people are willing to pay anything to live longer. They take advantage of us and thats not fair because it is not always are fault for getting these diseases and we shouldn't be punished for having theses diseases by paying outrageous price just to better ourselves. My grandpa died 2 years ago from lung cancer and when he found out that he had it the doctors told him that he only had a year to live, but he to chemotherapy, which prolonged his life another three years. Yes i do find these medications to be very helpful in prolonging a persons life but the side effects from theses drugs are very unpleasant. Whenever my grandpa got chemotherapy he felt horrible after, her was irritable and was not as chipper as he would be with out the drug. I just recommend industries that are creating these drugs to put the consumer into consideration because they are going through enough trouble with having to live life with an incurable disease and the side effects from the drug; they don't need to live with the burden of paying an outrageous cost just to live 5 extra months and feel crappy during it.
I think life is worth more than any amount of money. I agree with Christian, however, that some of the treatments are overpriced and ripping off people. I don't think that cancer patients should have to choose whether to have more time to live or to suffer financially. If it were up to me, I'd think that people should just pay what they can for the treatments. We only get one life, and I don't think one's financial status should dictate how long they are able to live after being diagnosed with cancer.
In my opinion, life is life and when your time is up, your time is up. If one has a terminal disease, in this case cancer, I feel that living the end of your life confortably is the best way to go. When one has a fatal disease, he or she knows that he or she is going to die. Also, these drugs have horrible side effects. I wouldn't like to live the last few months of my life with severe vomiting, not being able to eat or sleep comfortably even if it means a few months less to live. Some people might say this disrespects life but in reality, what is the meaning of living a few more months vomiting and in pain.
On a different not, I don't think these pills are overpriced like many of the previous people have said. The prices are high for a reason. Research and production cost money, especially if it is new. I wouldn't say there isn't profit included in the price but a lot of time, research and money went into producing this new drug therefore it has a high price.
But I would never go out to get these new drugs that haven't been proven to actually be effective on the human body.
I have to take a more realistic approach this issue and agree with ayaka. Its not that life isnt precious, but when its your time, its time, theres not point in suffering just to get few more months. I mean there are exceptions for some people who have special circumstancces, such as cancer patients who are the only caretaker of their children, that makes it reasonable for them to need some extra time to sort things out. But for people who are taking it just because their inssurence covers it, i think is just selfish. Not only are they putting a financial burden on themselves and their family, they are taking away precious resources that can go to people with treatable illnesses.
I'm surprised that people are willing to pay that much for only a little more life time. I have to agree with Ayaka and Jasmine: just live the rest of your life out hopefully to its fullest and try to put all your business in order. However, if the treatment can elongate one's life for a decent period and the cost is not too outrageous (not that that is saying much now a days), shoot for it, what do you have to lose?
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