IMS: the global annual expenditure of cancer drugs hit another record, breaking the $100 billion mark

Source: global annual spending on cancer drugs reached $100 billion for the first time on May 6, 2015 At the same time, the pharmaceutical industry is preparing to launch a new generation of cancer treatment programs, which are bound to further increase the cost of treatment This record spending increased by 10% in 2014 compared to the previous year To a large extent, this increase is caused by the rising price of drugs and the increase in cancer incidence rate The data was released by IMS Institute for healthcare information, a famous US research institution The data comes as more and more doctors and investors are cheering up new cancer drugs These new drugs have been hailed as the biggest progress in cancer medicine in decades Merck & Co, Bristol Myers Squibb, Roche and AstraZeneca are among the companies developing the so-called cancer immunotherapy The principle of this immunotherapy is to use the body's immunity against cancer cells The treatment, first introduced in the United States in recent months, costs about $150000 a year For the pharmaceutical industry, which has experienced a decade of sluggish growth, this day's price plan has given rise to new optimism However, the emergence of expensive new cancer drugs on schedule has also raised a lot of questions: in the face of the rising costs caused by the aging of the global population, the already overburdened medical system can still afford these new drugs "Earlier diagnosis, longer treatment periods, and increased effectiveness of drug treatment are all boosting cancer drug spending," the Ames report said Over the past five years, cancer drug spending has grown at a CAGR of 6.5% According to Ames, with the advent of the new treatment plan, this growth rate will further increase from now to 2018, and is expected to increase to 8% "In the next few years, new treatment categories and combination treatment programs will change the pattern of cancer treatment," the report said In 2014, the United States spent the most on cancer drugs per capita, reaching $99, up from $71 in 2010 The biggest increase, however, was in the UK, where spending rose 67 per cent over the same period to just over $40 This year, to limit spending growth, the National Health Service (NHS) has banned several cost-effective cancer drugs.