Online Petition Calls for Government to Control Cancer Drug Costs

A petition on Change.org is calling for the “President, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and all Members of the United States Congress” to work to decrease the economic burden of oncology treatments.

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According to the petition, which nearly 4000 people have signed in just 2 weeks, the average price of cancer drugs has increased from $5000 to $10,000 annually in 2000 to more than $120,000 currently. Conversely, according to the petition, the average household family income today is $52,000.

Specifically, the petition calls for the ability for Medicare to negotiate drug prices, federal legislation that prevents drug companies from delaying access to generic medications, allowance of research organization such as the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to include drug prices in their assessments of the value of drugs and treatments, and a request for nonprofit organizations to develop guidelines that incorporate drug prices relative to treatment value, among others.

The petition concludes, “In the United States, all cancer patients must have immediate access to affordable prescription drugs in order to save their lives.”

Research estimates that 1 in 3 Americans has a lifetime chance of developing cancer, and in 2014, approximately 1.6 million new cancer diagnoses were recorded.

Click here for more on the petition.—Kerri Fitzgerald