Médecine sciences : M/S
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Médecine sciences : M/S · Mar 2012
Review[Health care expenditures linked to the use of targeted therapies and diagnostic tests for cancer patients].
Recent advances in cancer research have led to the development of very expensive new drugs for cancer treatment: the targeted therapies. However, the introduction of these new therapeutic agents which costs are increasing could threaten the diffusion of these innovations. ⋯ In this paper, we present current estimates of health care expenditures linked to the use of targeted therapies for cancer care. We also discuss some of the issues related to the regulatory decisions (pricing and reimbursement) concerning the test/drug couple.
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Genomics of breast cancer is paving the way towards more and more tailored treatments. The number of molecularly targeted therapies under development is increasing. In parallel, the high-throughput analyses revealed the molecular heterogeneity of disease, and identified several very different molecular subtypes, numerous and sometimes very scarce molecular alterations, and multigenic signatures predictive for clinical outcome, some of which are being tested in prospective clinical trials. This molecular segmentation of breast cancer and the multitude of new drugs to be tested (alone and in combination) lead to develop clinical trials based on the molecular profile of tumors to guide the patient towards the most suitable drug.