Research endeavors to make cancer treatment less expensive
9:49 p.m. Tuesday, January 30, 2007
According to the National Institutes of Health, Americans spent more than $74 billion for cancer treatment in 2005.
"It is not uncommon for patients or their insurance carriers to be paying $4,000-$5,000 or even $8,000 or more a month in drug costs," oncologist-pharmacologist Dr. Mark Ratain said.
Fast Facts
- About 1,399,790 cases of cancer will have occurred in 2006 (about 720,280 cases in men and 679,510 cases in women).
- In 2005, costs for medical treatment of cancer in the U.S. reached $74 billion.
- Researchers at the University of Chicago are testing a combined treatment of the drug, Rapamycin, with grapefruit juice in patients with advanced cancer.
- Grapefruit juice may provide a way to reduce the needed amount of medication for treating cancer and save patients money.
If you have questions about potential interactions between your medication and grapefruit, talk to your pharmacist or health care provider.
General information about cancer is available at the American Cancer Society or the National Cancer Institute.
Now University of Chicago researchers are looking at ways to cut those costs. They're testing rapamycin, marketed as Rapamune. The drug is already FDA approved to prevent kidney transplant rejection. But early studies show it may also slow cancer growth.
"We thought, well if rapamycin is already available and it's already out there, there may be an opportunity to develop rapamycin for use in cancer patients," oncologist Dr. Ezra Cohen said.
Because the drug suppresses the immune system, cancer patients in the study will take it only once a week.
"We think we can harness the anticancer effect and avoid the immunosuppressive effects," Cohen said.
Fewer doses costs fewer dollars. But researchers didn't stop there.
"That's where the grapefruit juice comes in," Cohen said.
Study participants will be asked to drink two glasses of grapefruit juice a day.
"What the grapefruit juice does is, it inhibits the metabolism of the drug, so it, you're basically extending the dose," Ratain said.
Taking less of a drug that lasts longer - two ways to cut treatment costs that could give cancer a run for your money.
The study is only taking place at the University of Chicago. Participants are cancer patients who have exhausted standard treatments. For more information, call Kristin Moshier at 773-702-0891, or go online to www.clinicaltrials.gov, key word: grapefruit juice.
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