Later this month, the American Society of Clinical Oncology will convene more than 25,000 cancer specialists at its annual meeting to wrestle with some of the country’s most pressing healthcare issues.
One of conference’s top agenda items is sure to be drug pricing. A recent editorial in a major industry journal fervently made the case that high prices for certain cancer pharmaceuticals are preventing patients from getting treated and violating the Hippocratic Oath’s charge to “do no harm.”
This is an increasingly popular sentiment in the oncology community. While it does seem to be driven by a genuine concern for patient well-being, it’s deeply misguided. Drug prices are minuscule compared to the profound social benefit generated by successful pharmaceuticals.
To continue reading this article visit: http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomasphilipson/2013/10/20/capping-drug-prices-scraps-the-hippocratic-oath/
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