As pharmaceutical companies plunder pools of insurance funds in the futile treatment of cancer, pressure has come to bear to fast-track approval of drugs that marginally improve survival. A major review of new cancer drugs between 2002 and 2014 shows 48 treatments extended life by an average of just two months.
Global sales of cancer drugs were $85 billion last year. There is admission that chemotherapy drugs are only effective for 10% of cancer patients. Are the patients informed of any of this? One study reveals 75% of cancer patients believed their lung and colon cancer were likely to be cured with chemotherapy. “Yet a cure in these situation is virtually unknown.” Patients rarely question their doctors about the effectiveness of cancer drugs. There is a call for cancer patients to be fully informed in consent forms of these facts. [Daily Mail UK Nov 9, 2016; British Medical Journal Nov 9, 2016] Prediction: helpless cancer patients will still demand access to these drugs regardless.