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Bridget M. Kuehn

JAMA. 2009;302(8):838.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Citing the extremely high cost of many cancer drugs that produce only a marginal survival benefit, scientists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center and the National Cancer Institute are urging the oncology community, regulators, drug makers, and the public to begin to set limits on the use or pricing of such drugs.

The scientists noted that 90% of the anticancer drugs or biologics approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the past 4 years cost more than $20 000 for a 12-week regimen, but many offer an additional survival benefit of only 2 months or less (Fojo T and Grady C. J Natl Cancer Inst. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djp177 [published online ahead of print June 29, 2009]). For example, a study presented in 2008 found that adding cetuximab to other chemotherapies extended life by only 1.2 months at considerable cost: in the United . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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