Abstract
BackgroundAccessibility to essential cancer medications in low- and middle-income countries is threatened by insufficient availability and affordability. The objective of this study is to characterize variation in transactional prices for essential cancer medications across geographies, medication type, and time.MethodsDrug purchase prices for 19 national and international buyers (representing 29 total countries) between 2010 and 2014 were obtained from Management Sciences for Health. Median values for drug pricing were computed, to address outliers in the data. For comparing purchase prices across geographic units, medications, and over time; Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare two groups, Kruskal Wallis H tests were used to compare more than two groups, and linear regression was used to compare across continuous independent variables.ResultsDuring the five-year data period examined, the median price paid for a package of essential cancer medication was $12.63. No significant differences in prices were found based on country-level wealth, country-level disease burden, drug formulation, or year when medication was purchased. Statistical tests found significant differences in prices paid across countries, regions, individual medications, and medication categories. Specifically, countries in the Africa region appeared to pay more for a package of essential cancer medication than countries in the Latin America region, and cancer medications tended to be more expensive than anti-infective medications and cardiovascular medications.ConclusionsThough preliminary, our study found evidence of variation in prices paid by health systems to acquire essential cancer medications. Primarily, variations in pricing based on geographic location and cancer medication type (including when comparing to essential medicines that treat cardiovascular and infectious diseases) indicate that these factors may impact availability, affordability and access to essential cancer drugs. These factors should be taken into consideration when countries assess formulary decisions, negotiate drug procurement terms, and when formulating health and cancer policy.
Highlights
Accessibility to essential cancer medications in low- and middle-income countries is threatened by insufficient availability and affordability
Overview In order to achieve the goals of this study, we conducted a series of comparative analyses on median prices paid for essential cancer medications contained in a drug procurement dataset that includes 19 national and international buyers obtained from Management Sciences for Health (MSH) for the period 2010–2014
The median price paid for a package of essential cancer medication was $12.63, with the lowest recorded price $0.03 and the highest recorded price $5250.00
Summary
Accessibility to essential cancer medications in low- and middle-income countries is threatened by insufficient availability and affordability. The objective of this study is to characterize variation in transactional prices for essential cancer medications across geographies, medication type, and time. This goal is best served by efforts to increase tertiary prevention initiatives, which serve to reduce the progression or worsening of disease. While advances in the modern era have allowed for the development of Cancer itself is among the biggest modern threats to individual and population health [3]. The global cancer burden has been steadily increasing through the 20th and 21st centuries [4], and will likely continue to increase in the foreseeable future [5]. The demand for cancer medications will intensify [6]. In an effort to help guide decisions regarding procurement and coverage of essential medicines, the WHO has
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