Expensive cancer drugs were useless
Despite significant investment and innovation, new cancer drugs approved in the last ten years, may not influence survival of patients. This publication reports EurekAlert! with reference to British expert Peter WISA (Peter Wise), published an article in the British Medical Journal.
According to the specialist, many patients spend a six-figure sum for the purchase of medication that prolongs life for only a few weeks or months. In 2015, the proceeds from the sale of such products worldwide amounted to about 110 billion dollars. Weiss encourages to develop stricter rules for the approval of chemotherapy drugs and to take measures to reduce their cost.
The expert drew attention to the shortcomings of the test procedure preparations. One of them is a surrogate endpoint is a simple criteria by which to determine the effectiveness of the medication. Their use allows to speed up the approval process, but it is impossible to reliably determine whether the drug prolongs life. According to WISA, it violates the ethical principles of medical research.
In September 2016 the Guardian reported that researchers from the University of London have developed a drug IMM-101, which causes the immune system to fight with severe pancreatic cancer.