The global preventable cost of cancer drug wastage

In a study on clinical trial data of 22 targeted oral anticancer drugs (University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA), researchers showed the median cost associated with discarded pills per patient rounding off to $1750 a year, which is still costly for a payer. “The rate of increase in the cost of anticancer drugs has just skyrocketed, and patients and insurers have a very difficult time paying for them, so wastage in discarded drugs amounts to a huge cost.” According to Bradley, pharmaceutical companies, payers, and patient advocacy groups are equally responsible for addressing drug wastage.