Improving access to high-cost cancer drugs in Latin America: Much to be done.
Lack of access to high-cost medications is a complex issue at the intersection of economics, medicine, politics, and ethics, and it poses a significant threat to global health care. The problem is even more significant in low- and middle-income countries, such as those in Latin America, where governments and individuals struggle to pay for products that are priced at several times the level of their per capita gross domestic product. In this review, we examine the determinants for increasing drug costs and how Latin American countries face this burgeoning crisis. We emphasize that a number of opportunities and strategies to reduce costs and improve access exist and should be identified and implemented, ideally within a regional approach with multiple stakeholders involved and based on systematic and transparent cost-effectiveness analyses. Cancer 2017;123:1313-1323. © 2016 American Cancer Society.
Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas, Lima, Peru.|Global Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.|Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
Rossana
R
Ruiz
Wilhelminen Hospital, Vienna, Austria.
Kathrin
K
Strasser-Weippl
"Dr. Manuel Quintela" Hospital Clinics, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Diego
D
Touya
Valencian Institute of Oncology, Valencia, Spain.
Carmen
C
Herrero Vincent
Global Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.|Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
Abraham
A
Hernandez-Blanquisett
Global Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.|Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
Jessica
J
St Louis
Global Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.|Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
Alexandra
A
Bukowski
Global Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.|Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
Paul E
PE
Goss
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000191:economics; D035843:Biomedical Research; D059451:Biosimilar Pharmaceuticals; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D016527:Drug Costs; D006291:Health Policy; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007843:Latin America / Q000453:epidemiology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D059451:Biosimilar Pharmaceuticals
access to health care; cost/benefit analysis; drug industry; health care costs; molecular targeted therapy; pharmaceutical economics